The aircraft carriers “island”
An aircraft carrier’s “island” is the command center for flight-deck operations, as well as the ship as a whole. The island is about 150 feet (46 m) tall, but it’s only 20 feet (6 m) wide at the base, so it won’t take up too much space on the flight deck. The top of the island, well above the height of any aircraft on the flight deck, is spread out to provide more room.
The top of the island is outfitted with an array of radar and communications antennas, which keep tabs on surrounding ships and aircraft, intercept and jam enemy radar signals, target enemy aircraft and missiles, and pick up satellite phone and TV signals, among other things.
Interestingly, the US Navy moved the island rearward on its modern aircraft carriers.
Moved rearward
Douglas Brown, former US Navy Engineman 2nd Class, explains on Quora;
‘They did it twice.
‘From the Lexington-class carriers through the Forrestal-class Supercarriers, the island was placed approximately midships. With axial-deck (no angle) carriers the island location was dictated by the location of the smokestack. Experience with the early angle-deck carriers (Essex and Midway class conversions and the Forrestal class) in the 1950s showed that particular layout, especially the port-side midships deck edge elevator at the end of the “angle” made aircraft handling somewhat inefficient.
‘Starting with the Kitty Hawk class (and CVN-65 Enterprise) the island was swapped with the second starboard elevator.
‘The issue with the Forrestal’s island placement was the ship was already under construction before the angle deck was added. The layout of the engineering plant- namely the boiler uptakes- dictated the location of the island. Redesigning the uptake trunking and the elevator layout was a major redesign, hence the Kitty Hawk class. Forrestal’s construction was well underway before the Navy had any experience in angle-deck operations, as Forrestal was laid down in July 1952 and Antietam didn’t get its experimental angle deck until December of 1952.
Angle-deck conversions
‘All the angle-deck conversions of Essex and Midway class carriers used the portside midships elevator as the end of the angle, and that was carried over to Forrestal. The midships elevator was an even bigger setback, as it couldn’t be used during landing ops or if the waist catapults were being used. The island placement wasn’t the real issue, it was the elevator placement. Having the island forward actually gives more room for landing aircraft, but it’s in the way of the aft 2 starboard elevators when trying to move aircraft during landing ops.’
Brown concludes;
‘This photo shows the difference, the Forrestal-class carrier USS Independence on the left with 1 elevator forward and 2 aft of the island, and USS Kitty Hawk on the right, with 2 elevators forward and 1 aft of the island. USS John F Kennedy (CV-67) made minor changes to the flight deck layout without moving the island structure, which was carried over into the Nimitz class.
‘The Gerald Ford class carriers move the island even further aft, again to improve aircraft handling.’
Photo by Unknown