An aircraft carrier is a floating base built around a flat flight deck. Use the buttons to look inside the ship and follow how aircraft, supplies and people move between its many working compartments.
An aircraft carrier is a large ship whose main job is to carry aircraft and keep them operating at sea. Its most obvious feature is a long, flat deck on top — the flight deck — where aircraft arrive and depart. Almost everything else in the hull is arranged around supporting that deck.
Just below the deck is a big enclosed space called the hangar, where aircraft are parked and prepared. Around it sit workshops, storage rooms and the places the crew lives and eats. Lower still, near the bottom of the hull, are the machinery spaces that drive the ship and the tanks that keep it steady.
From the outside a carrier is just a big grey hull with a flat top, and there is no way to tell which compartment does what. Hiding the outer shell shows you how the ship is organised: flight deck at the very top, hangar and workshops beneath it, living and storage spaces in the middle, and propulsion and ballast right down by the keel.
Two ideas hold the design together. The first is the vertical route: aircraft move up and down between the hangar and the deck through the elevators, while the deck itself stays clear. The second is balance: fuel, stores, water and aircraft all shift around during a voyage, so the ship uses seawater in its ballast tanks to keep itself level and stable.
The flight deck is the flat surface on top of the hull. It is where aircraft arrive and depart, and where they are moved around between those two moments. Because the deck has to stay open and clear, it sits above every other structure on the ship.
Under the flight deck is the hangar, a large enclosed deck that shelters the aircraft from weather and the sea. Aircraft are parked here, prepared and looked after. Because the hangar is indoors, this work can carry on regardless of conditions outside.
The elevators are platforms that travel between the hangar and the flight deck. An aircraft is moved onto a platform below, lifted up, and then rolled out onto the deck. With more than one elevator, the ship can keep moving aircraft even while another platform is in use.
Alongside the hangar are maintenance stations: workshops and repair benches where aircraft can be inspected and fixed while still indoors. Nearby, the staging area holds aircraft that are ready and waiting their turn for the elevator, so the aisles around them stay free.
Storage compartments hold the everyday supplies a long voyage needs — food, spare parts and consumables. They are spread along the hull rather than gathered in one place, which helps balance the ship and keeps the walk to fetch things short.
Much of the middle of the ship is given over to people. Berthing areas and recreation rooms make up the crew living compartments, while the galleys and mess halls prepare and serve meals around the clock. A medical compartment holds treatment rooms and an operating space, so illnesses and injuries can be handled on board.
Low in the hull is the propulsion plant, the machinery space that makes the power to move the ship and to run its electrical systems. From there, the shafting carries the turning power aft through the hull to the propellers, which push the ship through the water.
Near the bottom of the hull are the ballast tanks. They take seawater in or pump it out, and the amount of water inside them is adjusted to keep the ship level and stable as fuel, stores and aircraft are used during a voyage. Together, all these compartments let a single hull act as a base, a workshop, a home and a power station at once.
The deck must be open and clear in every direction, so it sits at the very top of the hull. Keeping it there leaves the working surface free of masts, funnels and other structures, and lets aircraft roll straight on and off.
They are platforms that move aircraft, equipment and people between the hangar and the flight deck. Aircraft are parked and prepared downstairs, then lifted up when they are needed on the deck.
Spreading food, spare parts and consumables around the ship keeps the weight balanced and shortens the distance the crew has to travel to fetch them. One huge central store would make the ship uneven and slow to use.
Ballast tanks hold seawater that can be let in or pumped out. Adjusting that water keeps the ship level and stable as fuel, stores and aircraft are used up, so the flight deck stays as flat as possible.
The island is the tall superstructure on one side of the flight deck. It usually contains the bridge and pilot house, flight control and approach guidance positions, mounting points for radar and communication antennas, and the funnel.
Some carrier aircraft can be refueled in flight by tanker aircraft or partner tankers, which is part of the air wing's routine operating flow. This page only covers structural and procedural facts.
A large carrier can carry several thousand crew, working across departments such as navigation, engineering, air operations and logistics. The flight deck is arranged into launch areas and recovery areas, each with its own teams.