Aircraft carriers are supposed to project power and resilience, yet naval history is littered with ships that instead showcased epic failure. From rushed wartime conversions to peacetime engineering disasters, these ten carriers stand out for design flaws, catastrophic losses, or careers that never really began. I rank the 10 worst aircraft carriers ever built by how dramatically they fell short of their strategic promise.
1. The Doomed Giant: Shinano’s Rapid Sinking
The Japanese carrier Shinano was conceived as a superweapon, converted from a Yamato-class hull into what contemporary accounts describe as the heaviest carrier afloat, with Large Size, Capacity approaching 70,000 tons. Another assessment puts her full-load displacement at 71,890 tons, making Shinano the biggest aircraft carrier built up to that time. Yet rushed construction left critical Design Compromises and, including inadequate watertight subdivision and unfinished damage-control systems.
On November 29, 1944, just days after commissioning, Shinano sailed on her maiden voyage with incomplete fittings and an inexperienced crew. According to an On November account, she was struck by four torpedoes from the submarine USS Archerfish and sank within hours. The attack by OTD Imperial Japanese adversary USS Archerfish (SS-311) turned the largest warship ever sunk by a submarine into a symbol of overreach. For naval planners, Shinano proved that sheer size without robust survivability can be a fatal illusion.
2. Early Convert’s Fatal Flaw: HMS Courageous Torpedoed
HMS Courageous began life as a battlecruiser before her 1928 conversion into an early British carrier, a compromise that left her with thin armor and limited underwater protection. Operating in the Atlantic at the start of World War II, she was tasked with hunting U-boats but lacked the layered anti-submarine screen that later doctrine demanded. On September 17, 1939, U-29 exploited this vulnerability, firing torpedoes that fatally struck the ship and caused her to capsize within twenty minutes.
The loss of 519 crew exposed how early carrier conversions underestimated submarine threats while focusing on air operations. Courageous had been maneuvering slowly into the wind to recover aircraft, a pattern that made her an easy target once escorts strayed too far. Strategically, her sinking forced the Royal Navy to rethink using fleet carriers as aggressive sub-hunters, accelerating the shift toward specialized escort carriers and tighter convoy protection tactics.
3. Obsolete Pioneer: USS Langley’s Slow Demise
USS Langley (CV-1), converted from the collier USS Jupiter in 1922, was the U.S. Navy’s first aircraft carrier and a vital testbed for deck operations. However, her 15-knot top speed quickly became a crippling limitation as carrier doctrine evolved around fast task forces. By the time World War II erupted, Langley’s slow pace and modest air group left her hopelessly outclassed by newer fleet carriers that could outrun and outfight emerging threats.
Attempts to modernize Langley could not overcome the constraints of her collier hull, and she was relegated to aircraft ferry duties in the Pacific. In early 1942, Japanese bombers inflicted fatal damage, and she was scuttled after rescue efforts failed. Her trajectory from pioneering asset to vulnerable auxiliary underscored how rapidly carrier technology and tactics advanced, and how early improvisations could become liabilities once war demanded speed and striking power.
4. Turbine Troubles: Kiev’s Engine Nightmares
The Soviet carrier Kiev, formally designated Kiev Soviet Project, was the lead ship of Project 1143, the first class of fixed-wing carriers built in the Soviet Union for the blue-water fleet. Commissioned in 1975, Kiev combined a heavy missile armament with a small air wing, reflecting a hybrid doctrine that never fully embraced carrier air power. Her most notorious problems, however, lay below the waterline, where unreliable steam turbines repeatedly failed.
A serious engine room fire in 1979 nearly sank Kiev and highlighted chronic propulsion vulnerabilities that kept her availability low. Frequent breakdowns limited training and deployments, undermining the Soviet Union for the very power-projection role the ship was meant to serve. Strategically, Kiev’s mechanical woes illustrated the gap between Soviet ambitions and industrial reliability, foreshadowing the maintenance struggles that would later plague other post-Soviet carriers.
5. Unstable Relic: Béarn’s Wobbly Service
The French carrier Béarn started as the battleship Normandie before her 1927 conversion, a compromise that saddled her with a slow, bulky hull unsuited to carrier operations. With a top speed of only 21 knots, Béarn could not keep pace with modern fleets or generate the wind-over-deck needed for heavier aircraft. French Navy records also highlight persistent stability issues, with the ship rolling heavily and struggling to handle air group operations in rough seas.
These limitations meant Béarn saw minimal combat use, spending much of World War II in secondary roles such as aircraft transport and training. Decommissioned in 1960, she ended her days as a depot ship, a far cry from the frontline carrier France needed. Her career became a cautionary tale about trying to retrofit capital ships into carriers instead of designing purpose-built hulls that balance speed, stability, and aviation capacity.
6. Fiery Escort Failure: Taiyō’s Wooden Weakness
The Japanese escort carrier Taiyō was converted from a passenger liner in 1941, a quick fix to bolster convoy protection and ferry aircraft across the Pacific. That civilian origin left her with flammable wooden decks and poor internal ventilation, conditions that turned any hit into a potential inferno. As an escort carrier, Taiyō often carried fuel, munitions, and aircraft in cramped spaces, compounding the fire risk once damage control teams were overwhelmed.
On December 6, 1943, the submarine USS Rasher torpedoed Taiyō, triggering catastrophic explosions and fires that killed more than 1,000 people according to Combined Fleet records. The scale of the loss showed how cheaply converted liners could become death traps when exposed to modern submarine attacks. For Japan’s already strained naval logistics, losing Taiyō and her embarked personnel further eroded the ability to sustain distant operations.
7. Tiny Target: HMS Hermes Overwhelmed
HMS Hermes holds the distinction of being the world’s first ship designed from the keel up as an aircraft carrier, a fact noted in HMS Hermes British records. Yet at only 10,850 tons, the Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes was simply too small to carry a robust air group or heavy defensive armament. Her limited displacement constrained armor and anti-aircraft guns, leaving her vulnerable once enemy air power matured.
On April 9, 1942, Japanese dive bombers located Hermes off April British HMS and subjected her to a concentrated attack that quickly turned the ship into a blazing wreck. Contemporary descriptions, including “Dante’s Inferno” accounts from Aircraft Carrier HMS, emphasize how rapidly she succumbed. Strategically, Hermes demonstrated that pioneering design alone is not enough; survivability and scale matter once carriers become prime targets.
8. Atlantic Loss: USS Block Island’s Unexpected End
USS Block Island (CVE-21) was a U.S. escort carrier launched in 1942 to protect Atlantic convoys from U-boats, operating with a small air group and light armor. On May 29, 1944, U-549 penetrated her screen and fired torpedoes that fatally damaged the ship, making Block Island the only U.S. carrier sunk by enemy action in the European theater. Despite the loss, most of her crew were rescued by accompanying destroyer escorts.
Analysts later argued that the sinking highlighted design and doctrinal flaws in convoy protection, where lightly built escort carriers like Block Island operated close to submarine-infested waters with limited self-defense. Her fate underscored the trade-off between building many small, economical carriers and investing in more survivable platforms. For the U.S. Navy, the incident reinforced the need for tighter escort coordination and improved anti-submarine tactics around vulnerable flattops.
9. Unfinished Fiasco: Aquila’s Scrapped Dreams
The Italian carrier Aquila was intended to give the Regia Marina a true fleet carrier, converted from the passenger liner Roma starting in 1938. Construction dragged on amid engine failures, hangar fires, and chronic resource shortages that reflected Italy’s overstretched wartime industry. By 1943, Aquila remained incomplete, with her propulsion and aviation facilities still not ready for operational service.
Allied bombing later inflicted heavy damage that Italy lacked the means or incentive to repair, and the unfinished hull was scrapped in 1946. Aquila never launched a combat sortie, yet she consumed scarce steel, labor, and dockyard capacity during critical years. Her story illustrates how ambitious carrier projects can collapse when industrial capacity, political stability, and strategic priorities are misaligned, leaving only an expensive hulk as evidence of failed aspirations.
10. Perpetual Breakdown: Admiral Kuznetsov’s Ongoing Woes
Russia’s Admiral Kuznetsov, commissioned in 1991, is the troubled heir to the Soviet carrier tradition, plagued by chronic propulsion and reliability issues. Reports describe repeated breakdowns and a notorious 2016 fire during maintenance, part of a pattern that has kept her operational readiness at roughly 60 percent as of 2022. During her 2016 deployment to Syria, Kuznetsov suffered additional mechanical problems and aircraft losses, reinforcing her reputation as a liability rather than a flagship.
Analysts note that Kuznetsov’s outdated steam plant and inconsistent upkeep have turned routine voyages into high-risk endeavors, with tugs often accompanying her as insurance. A detailed OSINT analysis argues that recurring fires and accidents are symptoms of deeper structural and logistical failings. For Russia, the ship’s struggles highlight the immense cost of sustaining carrier capability without a robust industrial and maintenance base.
Supporting sources: USS Archerfish (SS-311).
More from Morning Overview