Originally posted by fkh:
I noticed that there are 1 or 2 airplanes mounted on large WW2 German or British battleships..
After taking off from battleships , I know it is not easy to land on battleships..
So where do these aircrafts land after completing ASW / Anti Ship missions?
In the case of amphidious planes, I can deducted that the planes would land on the surface of the sea near the battleship and battleship would use crane to pick up the aircraft..
Some aircrafts don't have amphidious capacities, did that mean pilots have to ditch the planes near the ship and the ship would pick up the pilots and ignore the plane?
If it is so, then it is waste of money..
the planes are sea-planes or equiped with floats.
They are typically launched by catapults.
After their mission, typically scouting/recon, they will land in the sea alongside the ship and they ship will use a crane to carry the seaplane back on board.
For the US and British ships, they slowly do away the seaplanes as the war progresses becos of the need to put in additional light AA to deal with the air threat.
And for the US, there are large numbers of fleet and escort carriers to prvide airborne capability.