Seaplane Tenders, Catapult Vessels, & Other Aircraft Carrying Ships

Seaplane tenders are regarded by some as the world’s first aircraft carriers, with the first operational vessels of the type appearing during the First World War. However, by modern definitions and even definitions closer to the time they operated, they’re not “true” aircraft carriers, as they cannot operate non-seaplanes because they don’t possess full-length flight decks. Numerous vessels of the type were built between the start of the First World War and the end of the Second World War when it became obsolete due to the development of modern aircraft carriers and more powerful and modern aircraft that no longer needed the naval support of seaplane tenders that they once did. Catapult vessels are a variant of seaplane tenders that have the functionality of a catapult on board to launch the aircraft directly from the ship, which not all seaplane tenders could. Instead, many seaplane tenders merely placed the aircraft in the water, from where they’d then take off.

This is the hub for all such vessels built by a variety of nations during the early-to-mid-20th century and any other miscellaneous aircraft-carrying vessels that existed during the experimental period at the dawn of naval aviation.