Double ended Seagoing paddle aircraft carriers

[tigercat]

First of all the dried  frog pills have run out so

1st I thought what about a double ended aircraft carrier  so aircraft could take off easier whichever way the wind was blowing .


Then I thought to take full advantage  of being able to swing the bows into the wind you'd need the ship to be manoeuvrable

so then I thought Paddle Steamer so you could reverse one paddle so it could turn on a dime.

Obviously you'd have to armout the paddles somehow and the conecept has been partly proved withthe the training carriers Sable and Wolverine

So how feasible would

a) an ocean going paddle engined carrier be?

b) a double ended variant of the same?

[Hobbes]

I suspect it's more efficient to change course using the rudder, than to brake to a stop and reverse. Also, a double-ended carrier needs two sets of arrestor wires, which would get in the way of launching aircraft.

As for paddles: they're less efficient than propellers, so you'd be hard pressed to get enough speed.

[PR19_Kit]

Didn't the USN have couple of paddle powered carriers as training vessels in WWII? I think they were based in the Great Lakes or somewhere similar.

[pyro-manic]

Also, the carrier's forward motion contributes to the total wind-over-deck, which is partly why carriers are usually as fast as reasonably possible. You'll never see an aircraft launch from a stationary carrier!

[Logan Hartke]

Didn't the USN have couple of paddle powered carriers as training vessels in WWII? I think they were based in the Great Lakes or somewhere similar.

Yes, the USS Sable and Wolverine, mentioned in the initial post.

Cheers,

Logan

[kerick]

You could go kind of a steampunk route with side wheels in the middle and both ends symetrical.

[rickshaw]

Also, the carrier's forward motion contributes to the total wind-over-deck, which is partly why carriers are usually as fast as reasonably possible. You'll never see an aircraft launch from a stationary carrier!

Not quite.  The catapult has to some degree mitigated the need for "wind over the deck".  Indeed, the RN when they showed off their new toy, the steam catapult, to the USN, they took one of their carriers to Washington and while it was tied up at the dock, catapulted aircraft off the deck.  The USN was so impressed they had a Grumman Cougar brought to the dock, loaded onboard and yes, catapulted off the deck!   While I wouldn't want to try that trick with a fully-loaded F/A-18, it would still work with something smaller, like an A-4 Skyhawk.

[raafif]

the Stig being launched from a refurbished Great Eastern ?

[Go4fun]

Weren't the early paddle wheel carriers used with biplanes which could do short take off rolls?

[NARSES2]

Not quite.  The catapult has to some degree mitigated the need for "wind over the deck".  Indeed, the RN when they showed off their new toy, the steam catapult, to the USN, they took one of their carriers to Washington and while it was tied up at the dock, catapulted aircraft off the deck.  The USN was so impressed they had a Grumman Cougar brought to the dock, loaded onboard and yes, catapulted off the deck!  

Wasn't that one of Eric "Winkle" Brown's "moments" ?

[rickshaw]

Not quite.  The catapult has to some degree mitigated the need for "wind over the deck".  Indeed, the RN when they showed off their new toy, the steam catapult, to the USN, they took one of their carriers to Washington and while it was tied up at the dock, catapulted aircraft off the deck.  The USN was so impressed they had a Grumman Cougar brought to the dock, loaded onboard and yes, catapulted off the deck!  

Wasn't that one of Eric "Winkle" Brown's "moments" ?

Yep.  That was from whom I read the story.  Would have been pretty impressive, all those pooh-poohing USN types watching in disbelief while a stationary carrier flew the aircraft off, tied up to the dock! 

[RussC]

Not quite.  The catapult has to some degree mitigated the need for "wind over the deck".  Indeed, the RN when they showed off their new toy, the steam catapult, to the USN, they took one of their carriers to Washington and while it was tied up at the dock, catapulted aircraft off the deck.  The USN was so impressed they had a Grumman Cougar brought to the dock, loaded onboard and yes, catapulted off the deck!  

Wasn't that one of Eric "Winkle" Brown's "moments" ?

Yep.  That was from whom I read the story.  Would have been pretty impressive, all those pooh-poohing USN types watching in disbelief while a stationary carrier flew the aircraft off, tied up to the dock! 

  Wasn't there a whole series of modern carrier ideas from the RN? I seem to remember the angled deck was another one and the mirror landing lights a.k.a. "meatball" was another. Some didn't go quite so far in either navy like the rubber coated deck and landing planes belly - in, even recall pics of a vampire testing that idea.

[PR19_Kit]

The RN did the 'zero speed launch' with a Scimitar, of all things, from the deck of the Eagle when it was moored in Valetta Harbour in Malta once.

Now that's something I'd have paid SERIOUS money to see!

[NARSES2]

  Wasn't there a whole series of modern carrier ideas from the RN? I seem to remember the angled deck was another one and the mirror landing lights a.k.a. "meatball" was another. Some didn't go quite so far in either navy like the rubber coated deck and landing planes belly - in, even recall pics of a vampire testing that idea.

Yes there was. July Airfix Magazine has a build of the belly landing Vampire as well as a photo of the actual aircraft on the rubber deck they used to test the concept on.

[KJ_Lesnick]

There was also a case where IIRC in the 1970's a US Aircraft Carrier docked near Piraeus ended up taking on water due to some kind of massive blown gasket and the ship ended up donkey backwards at an angle in the port.  They launched a lot of the airplanes and interestingly the first plane to come off the deck was an F-4 piloted by an LCDR who while being an excellent pilot, didn't follow orders too good:  He was told to take off, bank as soon as possible to avoid overflying the beach; they didn't want to make people nervous.  The LCDR took off, kept on accelerating until past 600 kts 50 feet off the deck, raced over the beach and did some aerobatic maneuvers and raced away. 

I think he got thrown in the brig for that.