How do smaller aircraft carriers accommodate their air wing?
All carriers employ deck parks, even the big American supercarriers. The 11,486 ton Chakri Naruebet (thank you for spelling it properly as 2 words – most folks get that wrong) was a Bazan (now Izar) of Spain standard commercial design offered to Thailand after the contract orginally awarded to Bremer-Vulkan of Germany went south. This commercial design (available in sizes from 11,000 up to 27,000 tons) was designed to stow 10 Harriers or 15 Sea King sized helicopters in the hangar and up to 5 CH-47’s on the flight deck. In Thai service she was never intended to operate fixed-wing aircraft, just helicopters, typically 4 Sikorsky S-70 ASW and 6 S-70 or Bell 212 troop carrying or SAR helicopters up to a maximum of 18. There was no requirement for her to operate Harrier’s. This was something thrown in by the then Bazan yard to get the contract away from Bremer-Vulkan. The Harriers were obsolete ex-Spanish Armada AV-8A’s that were given to Thailand free of charge. This was a rather mixed bl
