The Naval History & Heritage Command put together this awesome and simple graphic that demonstrates the evolutionary history of American aircraft carriers throughout the U.S. Navy’s involvement with naval aviation. It starts off with the USS Langley, the Navy’s first flattop, and ends with the USS Gerald R. Ford, the lead ship of her class due to enter active service within the next two years. It’s cool to see how far we’ve come from the Langley, which was a converted collier with a flat flight-deck added atop the ship’s superstructure, to the Ford, which in itself represents the employment of 100+ years worth of lessons learned in naval aviation.
The Tactical Air Network 
You are missing the USS Wasp CV 7. The wasp was a seperate design from the Ranger. She was built to use up the left over tonnage for CV’s and to keep the group who favored smaller carriers over the large ones happy. They both showed in service that you couldn’t make them small and put all you wanted in them, there was no room to grow with changes dictated by combat.
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Good stuff Ian! Thanks for all the great info and work. Much appreciated.
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I no longer positive where you’re getting your info, but good topic. I must spend some time studying more or working out more. Thanks for excellent info I was on the lookout for this info for my mission.
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