Since the birth of the aircraft carrier, it has become one of the most chaotic surface ships. The primary reason is that in addition to the operators of the warship itself, there are some sailors' air force members on the aircraft carrier. This makes the number of an aircraft carrier usually exceed that of warships of the same displacement class, perhaps combat cruisers. For example, at the beginning of World War II, heavy aircraft carriers with 30,000-40,000 tons in the United States and Japan usually had more than 2,000 people, while battleships with the same displacement only needed about1.5,000 ~1.6,000 people. But a giant abnormal battleship like Yamato, which can carry 2700 people, is a special case.
Due to the high concentration of personnel, once an aircraft carrier is hit, the loss of personnel is extremely endless. In the Midway War of the Pacific War, four aircraft carriers of Japanese sailors were sunk, and all the aviation masters accumulated by Japanese sailors for several years were "destroyed". Since then, Japan's aircraft carrier strength is simply a display.
After World War II, due to the emergence of new power skills such as nuclear power, the displacement of aircraft carriers has been rising, so the number of crew members has also been rising. Large conventional aircraft carriers such as the Forrest Kitty Hawk of the US military can usually carry more than 4,000 people. As for a giant nuclear-powered aircraft carrier like Nimitz, it can even carry more than 5,600 people (including 3,200 warship personnel and 2,400 sailor aviation personnel).
How many people can an aircraft carrier play?
A country needs a huge talent pool to develop an aircraft carrier and give full play to its role in peacetime and wartime. From the cultivation direction, it can be divided into the following aspects:
The first is the captain: although there is only one captain, the captain of an aircraft carrier, as the highest commander of the whole ship, naturally bears the highest degree of responsibility. As a channel for long-distance delivery of weapons, an aircraft carrier requires the captain not only to understand the theory of modern information-based joint operations, but also to understand the application characteristics of aviation military forces, as well as rich experience in world strategy, diplomacy, laws of war, media communication, etc. More importantly, it is necessary to have the leadership art of rallying the whole ship.
Secondly, the commander of carrier-based aviation: the power of aircraft carrier lies in the long-range aggression of carrier-based aircraft. Due to the high degree of disorder in today's aircraft carrier operations, it is difficult for the captain to have the energy to plan the actions of aviation. Therefore, there must be a person to serve as the command and handling of the carrier-based aircraft forces. Generally speaking, there are both fixed-wing carrier aircraft and rotary-wing aircraft on the aircraft carrier, including fighters, attack aircraft, anti-submarine aircraft and early warning aircraft, which requires the commanders of carrier-based aviation units to have extremely rich experience in commanding flight forces, understand and even fly over several different types of aircraft. Moreover, because the carrier-based aircraft force is the most important assault force of the aircraft carrier, its commander must also have a global strategic view.
From the perspective of training, the commanders of carrier-based aviation units are most likely to attack from the commanders of carrier-based combat units with different aircraft carriers.
The third is carrier-based pilots: the danger of fixed-wing combat aircraft taking off and landing from aircraft carriers is now well known. Therefore, compared with the usual air force, carrier-based pilots should have better psychological quality and self-confidence besides good air combat tactical skills. Because not only every take-off and landing is accompanied by danger, but once the battle is shot down, there may be trouble, so it is much more difficult for pilots to survive at sea.
If according to the Russian "Kuznetsov" convention, the power carrier can carry 24 combat/attack aircraft and 6 helicopters, then the minimum requirement is more than 60 pilots. Considering the possibility of long-term mission, the number of pilots may reach 80~ 100. If a large nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is launched, more pilots will be needed. And if we want to develop the combat level of 2~3 aircraft carriers, only carrier-based pilots need more than 300 storage power.
The fourth is the length of each part of the aircraft carrier: the aircraft carrier is a veritable ship with the most parts. The particularity of aircraft carrier determines that it must have the maintenance, protection and safety of carrier-based aircraft, its fuel and mounted weapons in addition to the functions of traditional ships such as combat, navigation, weapons, communication, electromechanical and replenishment. If it is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, it also needs some professional skills such as nuclear power protection and nuclear radiation protection.
Generally speaking, the outside world pays far less attention to these parts than the first three categories: captains, commanders and pilots of carrier-based aircraft units. But without these backbones, it is impossible for the aircraft carrier to complete its normal work.
The fifth is a huge group of officers and non-commissioned officers with various professional skills: they are also divided into two parts, one part is the parts of ships and the other part is the parts of aviation. Some netizens have summarized the clothing types of American aircraft carrier deck staff, such as white for safety observers, doctors and landing signal officers; Red is the ammunition handler; Green is the catapult operator; Yellow is the aircraft movement and take-off operator; Purple is an aviation oil engineer or something. In fact, this is all part of a carrier-based aviation unit with more than 2,000 people. More than 4000 people belonging to the aircraft carrier itself can't be seen on the deck. Even dozens of cooks are the main components of the aircraft carrier's combat effectiveness.
Even the lightest modern aircraft carrier needs more than 300 officers and non-commissioned officers with various professional skills. This has far exceeded the number of active surface and underwater combat vessels. If it is a large and medium-sized conventional power aircraft carrier with a displacement of 50,000-60,000 tons and capable of carrying large fixed-wing fighters, it needs at least 1 1,000 people. To maintain the strength of two or three aircraft carrier battle groups, only skilled officers and non-commissioned officers on the aircraft carrier need 3000 people. Of course, for a heavy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier like the US military, it is a huge number.
It is not difficult to see from the above analysis that it is not difficult to buy an aircraft carrier, but thousands of sailors are needed to make good use of the aircraft carrier and adhere to its outstanding combat power. And if a country decides to launch an aircraft carrier, it will be a quintessence and improvement of the strength of all sailors in the country. There is no doubt that some masters of this country's sailors' original aviation units, surface fleets and submarine units will gather together to discuss the application experience of aircraft carriers in the future. Serious changes will also take place in the training system and planning of sailors to meet the needs of aircraft carrier operations.