Why do aircraft carriers have islands?

Within any large, dynamic, and very complex enterprise, be it a corporation or an aircraft carrier, the three “Cs,” Command, Control, and Communication are essential. The island on an aircraft carrier is there to support these 3Cs. read more

The new version of the British Aircraft carriers have two islands, they now separate the command functions from flight operations both islands are small as compared to the Nimtz or the Fords but both ships are large as the Fords but for budget reasons the British government is slowing the pace of their construction the ships will be operational within 3 to 5 years. read more

Furthermore, observing planes from the starboard side allows one to observe the motion of planes going from left to right, a more natural motion to follow for right handed people. This is why carriers locate the island on the starboard side. As for the exceptions, Hiryu and Akagi. read more

The island on an aircraft carrier is there to support these 3Cs. Of all the senses, “seeing” in this environment is the most important. Those in command and control need the elevation of the island to see and look down to what they need to know, and control. read more

I have lost the source but in the early days of flat top carrier development with island super-structures, carriers did indeed have islands on the left hand side of the flight deck. The idea was two carriers could conduct simultaneous flight operations steaming in parallel and not have their traffic conflict. read more

While the island is usually built on the starboard side of the flight deck, the Japanese aircraft carriers Akagi and Hiryū had their islands built on the port side. Very few carriers have been designed or built without an island. read more