Q&A · 1:04:17-1:04:34

How the Royal Navy rehearsed carrier operations ashore

Pegged deck outlines let the Royal Navy investigate carrier operations ashore alongside trials at sea.

Question

Did the Royal Navy's 1915 shore-based carrier testing resemble modern Chinese land-carrier facilities?

Short answer

The purpose was comparable, but the Royal Navy usually marked a carrier deck with pegs rather than building a concrete mockup.

Notes

Early Royal Navy shore testing used a carrier layout marked with pegs on the ground. It represented the deck without constructing a permanent replica. The comparison with Chinese facilities concerns the use of a carrier representation ashore, while the physical structures differed. Broader RNAS trials also took place ashore alongside experiments aboard Furious.