What does "CV" mean?

[Gravemind]

Only been playing for a few days but seen CV used a lot. I just can't quite parse what it means on my own. I thought it meant "carrier" like some usages would imply but that can't be right.

[Ashardalon]

CV carrier
CA or CL cruisers ca meaning armored cruiser cl light cruiser
BB battleship
DD destroyer

[Gravemind]

Originally posted by Ashardalon:

CV carrier
CA or CL cruisers ca meaning armored cruiser cl light cruiser
BB battleship
DD destroyer

CV = carrier?
That makes no sense at all but sure ok.

BS would be better for battleship too as opposed to BB
But alright, now I know I guess.

[Ashardalon]

yea the naming is weird, but those are the official therms
blame the military

[Jackson]

"CV" derives from the cruiser designation, with the v for French voler, "to fly"

[Ashardalon]

really? thought it came from carrier vehicle
tho guess cruiser voler does also makes sense

[Jackson]

Yep, it does. Some of the letters have been changed. For the US, battleships were originally just "B." As in USS Indiana was USS Indiana, B-1. Name conventions changed over time however. Here's a write up from Wiki if anyone is interested.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull_classification_symbol#Aircraft_carrier_type

[Saviliana]

BB was for Battleline Battleship, it was a term form the sail boats era.
DD as Destoryer, was form a term of detect and destory, mainly form the era of steam torpedo boats, they were to search and destory the enemy steam torpedo carriers to protect the capital ships back in the olden days.

[Ashardalon]

did france even have carriers back then?
wasnt it america and japan doing the carrier arms race first
would expect their name to be from one of those

[Jackson]

Originally posted by Ashardalon:

did france even have carriers back then?
wasnt it america and japan doing the carrier arms race first
would expect their name to be from one of those

No idea why a French term was used to be honest. Unless I have my history completely wrong, the USN was the first to launch a fixed wing aircraft off a ship. The British Royal Navy was the first to build a converted carrier of sorts and the Imperial Japanese Navy was the first to build a purpose built carrier from the ground up. That'd be Hosho. I don't really know what the French were doing... Still building battleships? ;)

[BrigadierRosen]

I would just use AAC, SAC, AC, BS, BC, HC, C, LC, D, F

For ship type initials.

Since they need to be updated for modern usage anyways.

[Jackson]

Originally posted by BrigadierRosen:

I would just use AAC, SAC, AC, BS, BC, HC, C, LC, D, F

For ship type initials.

Since they need to be updated for modern usage anyways.

They have been. If you check the link I posted above it lists them all. There's many of them. Many support ships that need letters that no one really thinks about.

[Karmaterrorᵁᴷ]

Originally posted by Jack:

Originally posted by Ashardalon:

did france even have carriers back then?
wasnt it america and japan doing the carrier arms race first
would expect their name to be from one of those

No idea why a French term was used to be honest. Unless I have my history completely wrong, the USN was the first to launch a fixed wing aircraft off a ship. The British Royal Navy was the first to build a converted carrier of sorts and the Imperial Japanese Navy was the first to build a purpose built carrier from the ground up. That'd be Hosho. I don't really know what the French were doing... Still building battleships? ;)

Watched a documentry on you tube last week called biggest aircraft carrier. Not sure how much i trust there research as it was a channel 5 documentry (channel 5 was like the poor relation here in the uk for years haha)

If they are right the first from the ground up carrier was ark royal, they solved the issue of the offset bridge by extending the deck on the opposite side after trying all sorts to stop her listing because of the weight imbalance.

US was the first to launch planes with the help of none other than the wright brothers :D They gave them the prototype for the catapult system, only there version dropped a big weight, not a great idea on the deck of a ship so eventually a steam piston system with many pullys was used.

Interestingly it was a british pilot that first landed a plane on a ship.... and it wasnt a carrier. He literally dodged the main tower and put it down on the front deck section of a cruiser.... i know balls of steel huh. Unfortunatly on his second attempt he clipped the side of the ship, was knocked unconcious, then drowned in the cockpit. But he had proved it was possible driving the reserch to continue :)

[Jackson]

You are correct on all but Ark Royal. I'm pretty sure there were several before that. All I can say is Wiki says Hosho. I actually didn't know that off the top of my head, I was thinking it was Hermes.

[Karmaterrorᵁᴷ]

It could have been that was the first of the current design, with the offset bridge thats what made it a big deal. Seems UK and Japan had somewhat of a race going on... and UK lost haha

"The first purpose-designed aircraft carrier to be laid down was HMS Hermes (1924) in 1918. Japan began work on Hōshō the following year. In December 1922, Hōshō became the first to be commissioned, while Hermes was commissioned in February 1924."

So it looks like ark was just a big deal for the brige design and layout, i guess we had to do something to make up for getting spanked by two years on a carrier build lol

[Jackson]

Hey that's alright. We Americans got spanked by the Japanese. They were rather quick to see the secret usefulness of carriers. Of course then we taught them some secrets are best kept that way. At home.

And that explains why I thought it was the Hermes. I have a couple books on British carriers and they likely said it was the first laid down or something and that would make a person assume.. (yea yea, I know) that it was THE first haha