Editing Aircraft carrier (section)

===Origins===
[[File:Wakamiya.jpg|thumb|right|The {{ship|Japanese seaplane carrier|Wakamiya||2|up=yes}} conducted the world's first naval-launched air raids in 1914.]]

The 1903 advent of the heavier-than-air fixed-wing airplane with the [[Wright brothers]]' first flight at [[Kitty Hawk, North Carolina]], was followed on 14 November 1910, by [[Eugene Burton Ely]]'s first experimental take-off of a [[Curtiss Pusher]] airplane from the deck of a [[United States Navy]] ship, the cruiser {{USS|Birmingham|CL-2|6}} anchored off [[Norfolk Navy Base]] in [[Virginia]]. Two months later, on 18 January 1911, Ely landed his Curtiss Pusher airplane on a platform on the armored cruiser {{USS|Pennsylvania|ACR-4|6}} anchored in [[San Francisco Bay]]. On 9 May 1912, the first take off of an airplane from a ship while underway was made by Commander [[Charles Rumney Samson|Charles Samson]] flying a [[Short S.27|Short Improved S.27]] biplane "S.38" of the [[Royal Naval Air Service]] (RNAS) from the deck of the Royal Navy's pre-dreadnought battleship {{HMS|Hibernia|1905|6}}, thus providing the first practical demonstration of the aircraft carrier for naval operations at sea.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1912/1912%20-%200442.html|title=The Naval Review and the Aviators|issue=177|volume=IV|page=442|magazine=[[Flight International|Flight]]|date=18 May 1912|access-date=15 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117015037/https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1912/1912%20-%200442.html|archive-date=17 November 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=10 May 1912|title=Flight From the Hibernia|newspaper=The Times|issue=39895|page=8 (3)|location=London}}</ref> [[Seaplane tender]] support ships came next, with the French {{Ship|French seaplane carrier|Foudre||2}} of 1911.

Early in [[World War I]], the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] ship {{Ship|Japanese seaplane carrier|Wakamiya||2}} conducted the world's first carrier-launched air raid:{{sfn|Polak|2005|p=92}} on 6 September 1914, the Wakamiya used its crane to lower [[Farman Aviation Works|Farman]] seaplanes into the water.  The ''Wakamiya'' attacked the [[Austro-Hungarian Navy|Austro-Hungarian]] cruiser {{SMS|Kaiserin Elisabeth}} and the [[Imperial German Navy|Imperial German]] gunboat ''Jaguar'' in [[Jiaozhou Bay]] off [[Qingdao]]; neither was hit.<ref>{{cite book|last=Donko|first=Wilhelm M.|title=Österreichs Kriegsmarine in Fernost: Alle Fahrten von Schiffen der k.(u.)k. Kriegsmarine nach Ostasien, Australien und Ozeanien von 1820 bis 1914|publisher=Berlin Epubli|year=2013|pages=4, 156–162, 427}}</ref> The first attack using an air-launched [[torpedo]] occurred on 2 August, when a torpedo was fired by Flight Commander [[Charles Edmonds]] from a [[Short Type 184]] seaplane, launched from the seaplane carrier {{HMS|Ben-my-Chree||6}}.{{sfn|Sturtivant|1990|p=215}}<ref name="269hist">269 Squadron History: 1914–1923</ref>

The first carrier-launched airstrike was the [[Tondern raid]] in July 1918. Seven [[Sopwith Camels]] were launched from the battlecruiser {{HMS|Furious|47|6}} which had been completed as a carrier by replacing her planned forward turret with a flight deck and hangar prior to commissioning. The Camels attacked and damaged the German airbase at Tondern, Germany (modern day [[Tønder]], Denmark), and destroyed two [[Zeppelin|zeppelin airships]].<ref>Probert, p. 46.{{cnf|date=November 2024}}</ref>

The first landing of an airplane on a moving ship was by Squadron Commander [[Edwin Harris Dunning]], when he landed his [[Sopwith Pup]] on HMS ''Furious'' in [[Scapa Flow]], Orkney on 2 August 1917. Landing on the forward flight deck required the pilot to approach round the ship's superstructure, a difficult and dangerous manoeuver and Dunning was later killed when his airplane was thrown overboard while attempting another landing on ''Furious''.<ref>The First World War: A Complete History by Sir [[Martin Gilbert]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ob2k5aM15cEC&pg=RA2-PA355] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210905151348/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ob2k5aM15cEC&pg=RA2-PA355|date=5 September 2021}}</ref> HMS ''Furious'' was modified again when her rear turret was removed and another flight deck added over a second hangar for landing aircraft over the stern.<ref>Parkes, p. 622.{{cnf|date=November 2024}}</ref> Her funnel and superstructure remained intact however and [[turbulence]] from the funnel and superstructure was severe enough that only three landing attempts were successful before further attempts were forbidden.<ref>Parkes, p. 624.{{cnf|date=November 2024}}</ref> This experience prompted the development of vessels with a flush deck and produced the first large fleet ships. In 1918, {{HMS|Argus|I49|6}} became the world's first carrier capable of launching and recovering naval aircraft.{{sfn|Till|1996|p=191}}

As a result of the [[Washington Naval Treaty]] of 1922, which limited the construction of new heavy surface combat ships, most early aircraft carriers were conversions of ships that were laid down (or had served) as different ship types: cargo ships, cruisers, battlecruisers, or battleships. These conversions gave rise to the {{USS|Langley|CV-1|6}} in 1922, the US {{sclass|Lexington|aircraft carrier|2}}s (1927), Japanese {{Ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Akagi||2}} and {{Ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Kaga||2}}, and British {{sclass|Courageous|aircraft carrier|4}} (of which ''Furious'' was one). Specialist carrier evolution was well underway, with several navies ordering and building warships that were purposefully designed to function as aircraft carriers by the mid-1920s. This resulted in the commissioning of ships such as the Japanese {{Ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Hōshō||2}} (1922),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/13/world/gallery/japanese-inventions-changed-how-we-live/index.html|title=Japanese inventions that changed the world|publisher=CNN|date=13 June 2017|access-date=20 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171103173202/http://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/13/world/gallery/japanese-inventions-changed-how-we-live/index.html|archive-date=3 November 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> {{HMS|Hermes|95|6}} (1924, although laid down in 1918 before ''Hōshō''), and {{Ship|French aircraft carrier|Béarn||2}} (1927). During [[World War II]], these ships would become known as [[fleet carrier]]s.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}