Eric replied to me: > > the i-400 seemed to "cheat," and not have a real top-deck, only a > catapult, > and it launched seaplanes with pontoons. It then used a crane to retrieve > the returned planes from the water. > > the pontoons detacked for storage of the planes, and the wings folded.
Not a cheat, just not a 'carrier'. Once upon a time, cruisers carried seaplanes the way modern warships have helicopters. They could not waste their entire top deck to aviation, so they made do with seaplanes and catapults. Consider http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surcouf_(N_N_3) > possibly a design problem of the i-400 -- the planes were all stowed in a > row. I think the 'problem' was (a) the required disassembly and (b) the lack of a rear hatch. Otherwise, the row could become an efficient 'assembly line' system - recover the plane, shove it into the rear hatch of the tube, repair minor faults, refuel, rearm, emerge from the front hatch, launch again. Onno _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
