Timeline For Aircraft Carrier Service - World War I

World War I

1914

• 28 June — Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand; World War I begins.
• October — First aircraft carrying ship to be sunk in action, (former cruiser) seaplane carrier HMS Hermes sunk by U-27.
• 25 December — Attack on Cuxhaven, the first attack from the sea upon a land target using aircraft (seaplanes).

1915

• 12 August — First attack using an air-launched torpedo, from a Short Type 184 seaplane flown by Flight Commander Charles H. K. Edmonds from seaplane carrier HMS Ben-my-Chree.
• 5 November — First catapult launch of an aircraft from a ship, USS North Carolina.

1916

• 31 May — First use of an aeroplane during a battle at sea, the Battle of Jutland.
• August — Incomplete Italian liner Conte Rosso purchased by the Royal Navy for completion and conversion to an aircraft carrier, HMS Argus.

1917

• February — Incomplete large light cruiser HMS Furious has its forward gun replaced with a flying-off deck.
• 19 July — Tondern raid, the first attack by aircraft launched from a carrier flight deck.
• 2 August — First aircraft landing aboard a moving ship, HMS Furious; this ship was subsequently modified with a stern-mounted landing deck in late 1917.
• 21 August — First air to air kill from a ship launched aircraft, Zeppelin L23 shot down by a Sopwith Pup from cruiser HMS Yarmouth.
• 2 December — HMS Argus launched.

1918

• 15 January — HMS Hermes laid down; Hermes was the first ship specifically designed to be built as an aircraft carrier and the first carrier to feature an island superstructure.
• 28 February — Incomplete Chilean battleship Almirante Cochrane purchased by the Royal Navy to be completed as the carrier HMS Eagle.
• 8 June — HMS Eagle launched.
• 9 July — First strike by aircraft launched from a carrier, the Tondern raid.
• 14 September — HMS Argus commissioned.
• 11 November — Armistice signed, signalling the end of WWI.