Japans regering godkänner nya hangarfartyg

Hangarfartyg är stora örlogsfartyg som är avsedda att fungera som flytande baser för stridsflygplan och de är sålunda konstruerade så att flygplan kan både starta och landa ombord. Mindre hangarfartyg, helikopterhangarfartyg, så kallade "Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD)" är en variant av hangarfartyg som bara kan hantera helikoptrar och STOVL-flygplan.

This list of aircraft carriers contains aircraft carriers listed alphabetically by name. An aircraft carrier is a warship with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft, that serves as a seagoing airbase. Included in this list are ships which meet the above definition and had an official name (italicized) or designation (non-italicized), regardless of whether they were or were not ordered, laid down, completed, or commissioned. Not included in this list are the following: Aircraft cruisers, also known as aviation cruisers, cruiser-carriers, flight deck cruisers, and hybrid battleship-carriers, which combine the characteristics of aircraft carriers and surface warfare ships, because they primarily operated helicopters or floatplanes and did not act as a floating airbase. Examples include the British Tiger-class cruisers, Japanese Hyūga-class helicopter destroyer, French cruiser Jeanne d'Arc, Soviet Moskva-class helicopter cruisers, and Italian Andrea Doria-class cruisers. Amphibious assault ships, also known as commando carriers, assault carriers, helicopter carriers, landing helicopter assault ships, landing helicopter docks, landing platform docks, and landing platform helicopters. Although they have flight decks and look like aircraft carriers, they primarily operate helicopters and do not act as a floating airbase. Examples include the US Wasp-class assault ships, British HMS Ocean, Japanese Akitsu Maru escort carrier, and French Mistral-class. Catapult Aircraft Merchantmen, merchant ships which carried cargo and an aircraft catapult (no flight deck). Escort carriers, usually converted merchant ships, see separate List of escort carriers by country. "Landing craft carriers" such as USS LST-906, which were modified amphibious landing ships, because they could not recover their aircraft. Merchant Aircraft Carriers, cargo-carrying merchant ships with a full flight deck. Seaplane tenders and seaplane carriers, because they could not land aircraft. Submarine aircraft carriers, because they had no flight deck and could not land their aircraft."In Commission" denotes the period that the ship was officially in commission with the given name for the given country as an aircraft carrier as defined above.