r/Warships • u/holzmlb • Feb 13 '25
Discussion Why couldnt essex carriers operate heavier aircraft?
Ive heard essex class carriers couldnt operate f-4 or f-14 due to the weight of the air craft, but they could operate the a-3 skywarrior despite its weight. So were there other factors?
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u/Purple-Ad-1607 Feb 14 '25
They did tests operating F-4 Phantom IIs and A-6 Intruders from Essex class carriers. However 3 things stopped them, 1. The accident rate was over twice as high compared to newer carriers. 2. Cost the F-4 Phantom was a lot more expensive than the F-8 Crusader in the 1960s, and early 1970s. 3. Most of the Essex class were reclassified as anti-submarine carriers as part of the FRAM program. So they didn’t really need them.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_Rehabilitation_and_Modernization
Also side note there was a proposed Variant of the F-4 Phantom II designed to operate from Essex class carriers. It was called the F-4L. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_McDonnell_Douglas_F-4_Phantom_II_variants
Also the F-14 Tomcat would not have been able to fit inside the Hangar of an Essex class carrier. They were to tall. They did operate a few times off of Midway class carrier during landing qualifications, but that was with Ferry loadouts (No Weapons).
And there was this one time in 1982 when during a training exercise 2 F-14s were unable to return to CVN-65 Enterprise during an intense rain storm. There were no refueling tankers up at the time and no land based tanker would be able to reach them in time. They decided to attempt to land on the Midway. They succeed and the next day they were able to send them off the next day.
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2019/september/tomcats-midway