title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Tenth Amendment (1791) was included in the Bill of Rights to further define the balance of power between the federal government and the states. The amendment states that the federal government has only those powers specifically granted by the Constitution. These powers include the power to declare war, to collect taxes, to regulate interstate business activities and others that are listed in the articles or in subsequent constitutional amendments. Any power not listed is, says the Tenth Amendment, left to the states or the people. While there is no specific list of what these "reserved powers" may be, the Supreme Court has ruled that laws affecting family relations, commerce within a state's own borders, abortion, and local law enforcement activities, are among those specifically reserved to the states or the people.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Eleventh Amendment (1795) specifically prohibits federal courts from hearing cases in which a state is sued by an individual from another state or another country, thus extending to the states sovereign immunity protection from certain types of legal liability. has been affected by this amendment, which also overturned the Supreme Court's decision in "Chisholm v. Georgia" (1793).


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Sixteenth Amendment (1913) removed existing Constitutional constraints that limited the power of Congress to lay and collect taxes on income. Specifically, the apportionment constraints delineated in Article 1, Section 9, Clause 4 have been removed by this amendment, which also overturned an 1895 Supreme Court decision, in "Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.", that declared an unapportioned federal income tax on rents, dividends, and interest unconstitutional. This amendment has become the basis for all subsequent federal income tax legislation and has greatly expanded the scope of federal taxing and spending in the years since.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Eighteenth Amendment (1919) prohibited the making, transporting, and selling of alcoholic beverages nationwide. It also authorized Congress to enact legislation enforcing this prohibition. Adopted at the urging of a national temperance movement, proponents believed that the use of alcohol was reckless and destructive and that prohibition would reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, decrease the need for welfare and prisons, and improve the health of all Americans. During prohibition, it is estimated that alcohol consumption and alcohol related deaths declined dramatically. But prohibition had other, more negative consequences. The amendment drove the lucrative alcohol business underground, giving rise to a large and pervasive black market. In addition, prohibition encouraged disrespect for the law and strengthened organized crime. Prohibition came to an end in 1933, when this amendment was repealed.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Twenty-first Amendment (1933) repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and returned the regulation of alcohol to the states. Each state sets its own rules for the sale and importation of alcohol, including the drinking age. Because a federal law provides federal funds to states that prohibit the sale of alcohol to minors under the age of twenty-one, all fifty states have set their drinking age there. Rules about how alcohol is sold vary greatly from state to state.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Thirteenth Amendment (1865) abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime, and authorized Congress to enforce abolition. Though millions of slaves had been declared free by the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, their post Civil War status was unclear, as was the status of other millions. Congress intended the Thirteenth Amendment to be a proclamation of freedom for all slaves throughout the nation and to take the question of emancipation away from politics. This amendment rendered inoperative or moot several of the original parts of the constitution.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) granted United States citizenship to former slaves and to all persons "subject to U.S. jurisdiction". It also contained three new limits on state power: a state shall not violate a citizen's privileges or immunities; shall not deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; and must guarantee all persons equal protection of the laws. These limitations dramatically expanded the protections of the Constitution. This amendment, according to the Supreme Court's Doctrine of Incorporation, makes most provisions of the Bill of Rights applicable to state and local governments as well. It superseded the mode of apportionment of representatives delineated in Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3, and also overturned the Supreme Court's decision in "Dred Scott v. Sandford" (1857).


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Fifteenth Amendment (1870) prohibits the use of race, color, or previous condition of servitude in determining which citizens may vote. The last of three post Civil War Reconstruction Amendments, it sought to abolish one of the key vestiges of slavery and to advance the civil rights and liberties of former slaves.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Nineteenth Amendment (1920) prohibits the government from denying women the right to vote on the same terms as men. Prior to the amendment's adoption, only a few states permitted women to vote and to hold office.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Twenty-third Amendment (1961) extends the right to vote in presidential elections to citizens residing in the District of Columbia by granting the District electors in the Electoral College, as if it were a state. When first established as the nation's capital in 1800, the District of Columbia's five thousand residents had neither a local government, nor the right to vote in federal elections. By 1960 the population of the District had grown to over 760,000.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964) prohibits a poll tax for voting. Although passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments helped remove many of the discriminatory laws left over from slavery, they did not eliminate all forms of discrimination. Along with literacy tests and durational residency requirements, poll taxes were used to keep low-income (primarily African American) citizens from participating in elections. The Supreme Court has since struck down these discriminatory measures, opening democratic participation to all.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Twenty-sixth Amendment (1971) prohibits the government from denying the right of United States citizens, eighteen years of age or older, to vote on account of age. The drive to lower the voting age was driven in large part by the broader student activism movement protesting the Vietnam War. It gained strength following the Supreme Court's decision in "Oregon v. Mitchell" (1970).


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Twelfth Amendment (1804) modifies the way the Electoral College chooses the President and Vice President. It stipulates that each elector must cast a distinct vote for president and Vice President, instead of two votes for president. It also suggests that the President and Vice President should not be from the same state. is superseded by this amendment, which also extends the to become president to the Vice President.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Seventeenth Amendment (1913) modifies the way senators are elected. It stipulates that senators are to be elected by direct popular vote. The amendment supersedes , Clauses1 and 2, under which the two senators from each state were elected by the state legislature. It also allows state legislatures to permit their governors to make temporary appointments until a special election can be held.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Twentieth Amendment (1933) changes the date on which a new president, Vice President and Congress take office, thus shortening the time between Election Day and the beginning of Presidential, Vice Presidential and Congressional terms. Originally, the Constitution provided that the annual meeting was to be on the first Monday in December unless otherwise provided by law. This meant that, when a new Congress was elected in November, it did not come into office until the following March, with a "lame duck" Congress convening in the interim. By moving the beginning of the president's new term from March 4 to January 20 (and in the case of Congress, to January 3), proponents hoped to put an end to lame duck sessions, while allowing for a speedier transition for the new administration and legislators.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Twenty-second Amendment (1951) limits an elected president to two terms in office, a total of eight years. However, under some circumstances it is possible for an individual to serve more than eight years. Although nothing in the original frame of government limited how many presidential terms one could serve, the nation's first president, George Washington, declined to run for a third term, suggesting that two terms of four years were enough for any president. This precedent remained an unwritten rule of the presidency until broken by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was elected to a third term as president 1940 and in 1944 to a fourth.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Twenty-fifth Amendment (1967) clarifies what happens upon the death, removal, or resignation of the President or Vice President and how the Presidency is temporarily filled if the President becomes disabled and cannot fulfill the responsibilities of the office. It supersedes the ambiguous succession rule established in . A concrete plan of succession has been needed on multiple occasions since 1789. However, for nearly 20% of U.S. history, there has been no vice president in office who can assume the presidency.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Twenty-seventh Amendment (1992) prevents members of Congress from granting themselves pay raises during the current session. Rather, any raises that are adopted must take effect during the next session of Congress. Its proponents believed that Federal legislators would be more likely to be cautious about increasing congressional pay if they have no personal stake in the vote. has been affected by this amendment, which remained pending for over two centuries as it contained no time limit for ratification.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: Collectively, members of the House and Senate propose around 150 amendments during each two-year term of Congress. Most however, never get out of the Congressional committees in which they are proposed, and only a fraction of those approved in committee receive sufficient support to win Congressional approval and actually enter the constitutional ratification process.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: Six amendments approved by Congress and proposed to the states for consideration have not been ratified by the required number of states to become part of the Constitution. Four of these are technically still pending, as Congress did not set a time limit (see also "Coleman v. Miller") for their ratification. The other two are no longer pending, as both had a time limit attached and in both cases the time period set for their ratification expired.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The way the Constitution is understood is influenced by court decisions, especially those of the Supreme Court. These decisions are referred to as precedents. Judicial review is the power of the Court to examine federal legislation, federal executive, and all state branches of government, to decide their constitutionality, and to strike them down if found unconstitutional.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: Judicial review includes the power of the Court to explain the meaning of the Constitution as it applies to particular cases. Over the years, Court decisions on issues ranging from governmental regulation of radio and television to the rights of the accused in criminal cases have changed the way many constitutional clauses are interpreted, without amendment to the actual text of the Constitution.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: Legislation passed to implement the Constitution, or to adapt those implementations to changing conditions, broadens and, in subtle ways, changes the meanings given to the words of the Constitution. Up to a point, the rules and regulations of the many federal executive agencies have a similar effect. If an action of Congress or the agencies is challenged, however, it is the court system that ultimately decides whether these actions are permissible under the Constitution.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: Courts established by the Constitution can regulate government under the Constitution, the supreme law of the land. First, they have jurisdiction over actions by an officer of government and state law. Second, federal courts may rule on whether coordinate branches of national government conform to the Constitution. Until the twentieth century, the Supreme Court of the United States may have been the only high tribunal in the world to use a court for constitutional interpretation of fundamental law, others generally depending on their national legislature.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The basic theory of American Judicial review is summarized by constitutional legal scholars and historians as follows: the written Constitution is fundamental law within the states. It can change only by extraordinary legislative process of national proposal, then state ratification. The powers of all departments are limited to enumerated grants found in the Constitution. Courts are expected (a) to enforce provisions of the Constitution as the supreme law of the land, and (b) to refuse to enforce anything in conflict with it.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: As to judicial review and the Congress, the first proposals by Madison (Virginia) and Wilson (Pennsylvania) called for a supreme court veto over national legislation. In this it resembled the system in New York, where the Constitution of 1777 called for a "Council of Revision" by the governor and justices of the state supreme court. The council would review and in a way, veto any passed legislation violating the spirit of the Constitution before it went into effect. The nationalist's proposal in convention was defeated three times, and replaced by a presidential veto with congressional over-ride. Judicial review relies on the jurisdictional authority in Article III, and the Supremacy Clause.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The justification for judicial review is to be explicitly found in the open ratifications held in the states and reported in their newspapers. John Marshall in Virginia, James Wilson in Pennsylvania and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut all argued for Supreme Court judicial review of acts of state legislature. In Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton advocated the doctrine of a written document held as a superior enactment of the people. "A limited constitution can be preserved in practice no other way" than through courts which can declare void any legislation contrary to the Constitution. The preservation of the people's authority over legislatures rests "particularly with judges".


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Supreme Court was initially made up of jurists who had been intimately connected with the framing of the Constitution and the establishment of its government as law. John Jay (New York), a co-author of "The Federalist Papers", served as chief justice for the first six years. The second and third chief justices, Oliver Ellsworth (Connecticut) and John Rutledge (South Carolina), were delegates to the Constitutional Convention. Washington's recess appointment as chief justice who served in 1795. John Marshall (Virginia), the fourth chief justice, had served in the Virginia Ratification Convention in 1788. His 34 years of service on the Court would see some of the most important rulings to help establish the nation the Constitution had begun. Other early members of the Supreme Court who had been delegates to the Constitutional Convention included James Wilson (Pennsylvania) for ten years, John Blair Jr. (Virginia) for five, and John Rutledge (South Carolina) for one year as a justice, then chief justice in 1795.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: When John Marshall followed Oliver Ellsworth as chief justice of the Supreme Court in 1801, the federal judiciary had been established by the Judiciary Act, but there were few cases, and less prestige. "The fate of judicial review was in the hands of the Supreme Court itself." Review of state legislation and appeals from state supreme courts was understood. But the Court's life, jurisdiction over state legislation was limited. The Marshall Court's landmark "Barron v. Baltimore" held that the Bill of Rights restricted only the federal government, and not the states.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: In the landmark "Marbury v. Madison" case, the Supreme Court asserted its authority of judicial review over Acts of Congress. Its findings were that Marbury and the others had a right to their commissions as judges in the District of Columbia. Marshall, writing the opinion for the majority, announced his discovered conflict between Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 and Article III. In this case, both the Constitution and the statutory law applied to the particulars at the same time. "The very essence of judicial duty" according to Marshall was to determine which of the two conflicting rules should govern. The Constitution enumerates powers of the judiciary to extend to cases arising "under the Constitution". Further, justices take a Constitutional oath to uphold it as "Supreme law of the land". Therefore, since the United States government as created by the Constitution is a limited government, the federal courts were required to choose the Constitution over congressional law if there were deemed to be a conflict.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: "This argument has been ratified by time and by practice..." The Supreme Court did not declare another act of Congress unconstitutional until the controversial Dred Scott decision in 1857, held after the voided Missouri Compromise statute had already been repealed. In the eighty years following the Civil War to World War II, the Court voided congressional statutes in 77 cases, on average almost one a year.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: Something of a crisis arose when, in 1935 and 1936, the Supreme Court handed down twelve decisions voiding acts of Congress relating to the New Deal. President Franklin D. Roosevelt then responded with his abortive "court packing plan". Other proposals have suggested a Court super-majority to overturn Congressional legislation, or a constitutional amendment to require that the justices retire at a specified age by law. To date, the Supreme Court's power of judicial review has persisted.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The power of judicial review could not have been preserved long in a democracy unless it had been "wielded with a reasonable measure of judicial restraint, and with some attention, as Mr. Dooley said, to the election returns." Indeed, the Supreme Court has developed a system of doctrine and practice that self-limits its power of judicial review.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Court controls almost all of its business by choosing what cases to consider, writs of certiorari. In this way, it can avoid opinions on embarrassing or difficult cases. The Supreme Court limits itself by defining for itself what is a "justiciable question". First, the Court is fairly consistent in refusing to make any "advisory opinions" in advance of actual cases. Second, "friendly suits" between those of the same legal interest are not considered. Third, the Court requires a "personal interest", not one generally held, and a legally protected right must be immediately threatened by government action. Cases are not taken up if the litigant has no standing to sue. Simply having the money to sue and being injured by government action are not enough.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: These three procedural ways of dismissing cases have led critics to charge that the Supreme Court delays decisions by unduly insisting on technicalities in their "standards of litigability". They say cases are left unconsidered which are in the public interest, with genuine controversy, and resulting from good faith action. "The Supreme Court is not only a court of law but a court of justice."


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Supreme Court balances several pressures to maintain its roles in national government. It seeks to be a co-equal branch of government, but its decrees must be enforceable. The Court seeks to minimize situations where it asserts itself superior to either president or Congress, but federal officers must be held accountable. The Supreme Court assumes power to declare acts of Congress as unconstitutional but it self-limits its passing on constitutional questions. But the Court's guidance on basic problems of life and governance in a democracy is most effective when American political life reinforce its rulings.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: Justice Brandeis summarized four general guidelines that the Supreme Court uses to avoid constitutional decisions relating to Congress: The Court will not anticipate a question of constitutional law nor decide open questions unless a case decision requires it. If it does, a rule of constitutional law is formulated only as the precise facts in the case require. The Court will choose statutes or general law for the basis of its decision if it can without constitutional grounds. If it does, the Court will choose a constitutional construction of an act of Congress, even if its constitutionality is seriously in doubt.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: Likewise with the executive department, Edwin Corwin observed that the Court does sometimes rebuff presidential pretensions, but it more often tries to rationalize them. Against Congress, an act is merely "disallowed". In the executive case, exercising judicial review produces "some change in the external world" beyond the ordinary judicial sphere. The "political question" doctrine especially applies to questions which present a difficult enforcement issue. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes addressed the Court's limitation when political process allowed future policy change, but a judicial ruling would "attribute finality". Political questions lack "satisfactory criteria for a judicial determination".


title: Constitution of the United States

text: John Marshall recognized that the president holds "important political powers" which as executive privilege allows great discretion. This doctrine was applied in Court rulings on President Grant's duty to enforce the law during Reconstruction. It extends to the sphere of foreign affairs. Justice Robert Jackson explained, foreign affairs are inherently political, "wholly confided by our Constitution to the political departments of the government ... [and] not subject to judicial intrusion or inquiry."


title: Constitution of the United States

text: Critics of the Court object in two principal ways to self-restraint in judicial review, deferring as it does as a matter of doctrine to acts of Congress and presidential actions.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: Supreme Courts under the leadership of subsequent chief justices have also used judicial review to interpret the Constitution among individuals, states and federal branches. Notable contributions were made by the Chase Court, the Taft Court, the Warren Court, and the Rehnquist Court.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: Salmon P. Chase was a Lincoln appointee, serving as chief justice from 1864 to 1873. His career encompassed service as a U.S. senator and Governor of Ohio. He coined the slogan, "Free soil, free Labor, free men." One of Lincoln's "team of rivals", he was appointed Secretary of Treasury during the Civil War, issuing "greenbacks". Partly to appease the Radical Republicans, Lincoln appointed him chief justice upon the death of Roger B. Taney.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: In one of his first official acts, Chase admitted John Rock, the first African-American to practice before the Supreme Court. The Chase Court is famous for "Texas v. White", which asserted a permanent Union of indestructible states. "Veazie Bank v. Fenno" upheld the Civil War tax on state banknotes. "Hepburn v. Griswold" found parts of the Legal Tender Acts unconstitutional, though it was reversed under a late Supreme Court majority.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: William Howard Taft was a Harding appointment to chief justice from 1921 to 1930. A Progressive Republican from Ohio, he was a one-term President.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: As chief justice, he advocated the Judiciary Act of 1925 that brought the Federal District Courts under the administrative jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. Taft successfully sought the expansion of Court jurisdiction over non-states such as District of Columbia and Territories of Alaska and Hawaii.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: In 1925, the Taft Court issued a ruling overturning a Marshall Court ruling on the Bill of Rights. In "Gitlow v. New York", the Court established the doctrine of "incorporation which applied the Bill of Rights to the states. Important cases included the "Board of Trade of City of Chicago v. Olsen" that upheld Congressional regulation of commerce. "Olmstead v. United States" allowed exclusion of evidence obtained without a warrant based on application of the 14th Amendment proscription against unreasonable searches. "Wisconsin v. Illinois" ruled the equitable power of the United States can impose positive action on a state to prevent its inaction from damaging another state.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: Earl Warren was an Eisenhower nominee, chief justice from 1953 to 1969. Warren's Republican career in the law reached from county prosecutor, California state attorney general, and three consecutive terms as governor. His programs stressed progressive efficiency, expanding state education, re-integrating returning veterans, infrastructure and highway construction.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: In 1954, the Warren Court overturned a landmark Fuller Court ruling on the Fourteenth Amendment interpreting racial segregation as permissible in government and commerce providing "separate but equal" services. Warren built a coalition of justices after 1962 that developed the idea of natural rights as guaranteed in the Constitution. "Brown v. Board of Education" banned segregation in public schools. "Baker v. Carr" and "Reynolds v. Sims" established Court ordered "one-man-one-vote". Bill of Rights Amendments were incorporated into the states. Due process was expanded in "Gideon v. Wainwright" and "Miranda v. Arizona." First Amendment rights were addressed in "Griswold v. Connecticut" concerning privacy, and "Engel v. Vitale" relative to free speech.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: William Rehnquist was a Reagan appointment to chief justice, serving from 1986 to 2005. While he would concur with overthrowing a state supreme court's decision, as in "Bush v. Gore", he built a coalition of Justices after 1994 that developed the idea of federalism as provided for in the Tenth Amendment. In the hands of the Supreme Court, the Constitution and its amendments were to restrain Congress, as in "City of Boerne v. Flores".


title: Constitution of the United States

text: Nevertheless, the Rehnquist Court was noted in the contemporary "culture wars" for overturning state laws relating to privacy prohibiting late-term abortions in "Stenberg v. Carhart", prohibiting sodomy in "Lawrence v. Texas", or ruling so as to protect free speech in "Texas v. Johnson" or affirmative action in "Grutter v. Bollinger".


title: Constitution of the United States

text: There is a viewpoint that some Americans have come to see the documents of the Constitution, along with the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, as being a cornerstone of a type of civil religion. This is suggested by the prominent display of the Constitution, along with the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, in massive, bronze-framed, bulletproof, moisture-controlled glass containers vacuum-sealed in a rotunda by day and in multi-ton bomb-proof vaults by night at the National Archives Building.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The idea of displaying the documents struck one academic critic looking from the point of view of the 1776 or 1789 America as "idolatrous, and also curiously at odds with the values of the Revolution". By 1816, Jefferson wrote that "[s]ome men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence and deem them like the Ark of the Covenant, too sacred to be touched". But he saw imperfections and imagined that there could potentially be others, believing as he did that "institutions must advance also".


title: Constitution of the United States

text: Some commentators depict the multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian United States as held together by a political orthodoxy, in contrast with a nation state of people having more "natural" ties.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The United States Constitution has been a notable model for governance around the world. Its international influence is found in similarities of phrasing and borrowed passages in other constitutions, as well as in the principles of the rule of law, separation of powers and recognition of individual rights.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The American experience of fundamental law with amendments and judicial review has motivated constitutionalists at times when they were considering the possibilities for their nation's future. It informed Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War, his contemporary and ally Benito Juárez of Mexico, and the second generation of 19th-century constitutional nationalists, José Rizal of the Philippines and Sun Yat-sen of China. The framers of the Australian constitution integrated federal ideas from the U.S. and other constitutions.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: Since the latter half of the 20th century, the influence of the United States Constitution may be waning as other countries have revised their constitutions with new influences.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: The Constitution did not originally define who was eligible to vote, allowing each state to determine who was eligible. In the early history of the U.S., most states allowed only white male adult property owners to vote. Until the Reconstruction Amendments were adopted between 1865 and 1870, the five years immediately following the American Civil War, the Constitution did not abolish slavery, nor give citizenship and voting rights to former slaves. These amendments did not include a specific prohibition on discrimination in voting on the basis of sex; it took another amendment—the Nineteenth, ratified in 1920—for the Constitution to prohibit any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex.


title: Constitution of the United States

text: According to a 2012 study by David Law of Washington University published in the "New York University Law Review", the U.S. Constitution guarantees relatively few rights compared to the constitutions of other countries and contains fewer than half (26 of 60) of the provisions listed in the average bill of rights. It is also one of the few in the world today that still features the right to keep and bear arms; the only others are the constitutions of Guatemala and Mexico.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a naval force to project air power worldwide without depending on local bases for staging aircraft operations. Carriers have evolved since their inception in the early twentieth century from wooden vessels used to deploy balloons to nuclear-powered warships that carry numerous fighters, strike aircraft, helicopters, and other types of aircraft. While heavier aircraft such as fixed-wing gunships and bombers have been launched from aircraft carriers, these aircraft have not successfully landed on a carrier. By its diplomatic and tactical power, its mobility, its autonomy and the variety of its means, the aircraft carrier is often the centerpiece of modern combat fleets. Tactically or even strategically, it replaced the battleship in the role of flagship of a fleet. One of its great advantages is that, by sailing in international waters, it does not interfere with any territorial sovereignty and thus obviates the need for overflight authorizations from third-party countries, reduces the times and transit distances of aircraft and therefore significantly increase the time of availability on the combat zone.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: There is no single definition of an "aircraft carrier", and modern navies use several variants of the type. These variants are sometimes categorized as sub-types of aircraft carriers, and sometimes as distinct types of naval aviation-capable ships. Aircraft carriers may be classified according to the type of aircraft they carry and their operational assignments. Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, RN, former First Sea Lord (head) of the Royal Navy, has said, "To put it simply, countries that aspire to strategic international influence have aircraft carriers." Henry Kissinger, while United States Secretary of State, also said: "An aircraft carrier is 100,000 tons of diplomacy."


title: Aircraft carrier

text: As of , there are 47 active aircraft carriers in the world operated by fourteen navies. The United States Navy has 11 large nuclear-powered fleet carriers—carrying around 80 fighters each—the largest carriers in the world; the total combined deck space is over twice that of all other nations combined. As well as the aircraft carrier fleet, the US Navy has nine amphibious assault ships used primarily for helicopters, although these also each carry up to 20 vertical or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) fighter jets and are similar in size to medium-sized fleet carriers. The United Kingdom, India and China each operate two aircraft carriers. France and Russia each operate a single aircraft carrier with a capacity of 30 to 60 fighters. Italy operates two light V/STOL carriers and Spain operates one V/STOL aircraft-carrying assault ship. Helicopter carriers are operated by Japan (4, two of which are being converted to operate V/STOL fighters), France (3), Australia (2), Egypt (2), South Korea (2), China (3), Thailand (1) and Brazil (1). Future aircraft carriers are under construction or in planning by China, France, India, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, and the US.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: A fleet carrier is intended to operate with the main fleet and usually provides an offensive capability. These are the largest carriers capable of fast speeds. By comparison, escort carriers were developed to provide defense for convoys of ships. They were smaller and slower with lower numbers of aircraft carried. Most were built from mercantile hulls or, in the case of merchant aircraft carriers, were bulk cargo ships with a flight deck added on top. Light aircraft carriers were fast enough to operate with the main fleet but of smaller size with reduced aircraft capacity.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: The Soviet aircraft carrier "Admiral Kusnetsov" was termed a "heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser". This was primarily a legal construct to avoid the limitations of the Montreux Convention preventing 'aircraft carriers' transiting the Turkish Straits between the Soviet Black Sea bases and the Mediterranean Sea. These ships, while sized in the range of large fleet carriers, were designed to deploy alone or with escorts. In addition to supporting fighter aircraft and helicopters, they provide both strong defensive weaponry and heavy offensive missiles equivalent to a guided-missile cruiser.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Aircraft carriers today are usually divided into the following four categories based on the way that aircraft take off and land:


title: Aircraft carrier

text: The appellation "supercarrier" is not an official designation with any national navy, but a term used predominantly by the media and typically when reporting on new and upcoming aircraft carrier types. It is also used when comparing carriers of various sizes and capabilities, both current and past. It was first used by "The New York Times" in 1938, in an article about the Royal Navy's , that had a length of , a displacement of 22,000 tonnes and was designed to carry 72 aircraft. Since then, aircraft carriers have consistently grown in size, both in length and displacement, as well as improved capabilities; in defense, sensors, electronic warfare, propulsion, range, launch and recovery systems, number and types of aircraft carried and number of sorties flown per day.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: China, Russia, and the United Kingdom all have carriers in service or under construction with displacements ranging from 65,000 to 85,000 tonnes and lengths from to which have been described as "supercarriers". The largest "supercarriers" in service as of 2022, however, are with the US Navy, with displacements exceeding 100,000 tonnes, lengths of over , and capabilities that match or exceed that of any other class.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Several systems of identification symbol for aircraft carriers and related types of ship have been used. These include the pennant numbers used by the Royal Navy, Commonwealth countries, and Europe, along with the hull classification symbols used by the US and Canada.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: The 1903 advent of the heavier-than-air fixed-wing airplane with the Wright brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, was closely followed on 14 November 1910, by Eugene Burton Ely's first experimental take-off of a Curtiss Pusher airplane from the deck of a United States Navy ship, the cruiser anchored off Norfolk Navy Base in Virginia. Two months later, on 18 January 1911, Ely landed his Curtiss Pusher airplane on a platform on the armored cruiser anchored in San Francisco Bay. On 9 May 1912, the first take off of an airplane from a ship while underway was made by Commander Charles Samson flying a Short Improved S.27 biplane "S.38" of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) from the deck of the Royal Navy's pre-dreadnought battleship . Thus providing the first practical demonstration of the aircraft carrier for naval operations at sea. Seaplane tender support ships came next, with the French of 1911.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Early in World War I, the Imperial Japanese Navy ship conducted the world's first successful ship-launched air raid: on 6 September 1914, a Farman aircraft launched by "Wakamiya" attacked the Austro-Hungarian cruiser and the Imperial German gunboat "Jaguar" in Kiaochow Bay off Tsingtao; neither was hit. The first attack using an air-launched torpedo occurred on 2 August, when a torpedo was fired by Flight Commander Charles H. K. Edmonds from a Short Type 184 seaplane, launched from the seaplane carrier .


title: Aircraft carrier

text: The first carrier-launched airstrike was the Tondern raid in July 1918. Seven Sopwith Camels were launched from the battlecruiser which had been modified by replacing her forward turret with a flight deck and hangar turret. The Camels attacked and damaged the German airbase at Tondern, Germany (modern day Tønder, Denmark) and destroyed two zeppelin airships.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: The first landing of an airplane on a moving ship was by Squadron Commander Edwin Harris Dunning, when he landed his Sopwith Pup on HMS Furious in Scapa Flow, Orkney on 2 August 1917. Landing on the forward flight deck required the pilot to approach round the ship's superstructure, a difficult and dangerous manoeuver and Dunning was later killed when his airplane was thrown overboard while attempting another landing on Furious. HMS Furious was modified again when her rear turret was removed and another flight deck added over a second hangar for landing aircraft over the stern. Her funnel and superstructure remained intact however and turbulence from the funnel and superstructure was severe enough that only three landing attempts were successful before further attempts were forbidden. This experience prompted the development of vessels with a flush deck and produced the first large fleet ships. In 1918, became the world's first carrier capable of launching and recovering naval aircraft.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: As a result of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, which limited the construction of new heavy surface combat ships, most early aircraft carriers were conversions of ships that were laid down (or had served) as different ship types: cargo ships, cruisers, battlecruisers, or battleships. These conversions gave rise to the US s (1927), Japanese and , and British . Specialist carrier evolution was well underway, with several navies ordering and building warships that were purposefully designed to function as aircraft carriers by the mid-1920s. This resulted in the commissioning of ships such as the Japanese (1922), (1924, although laid down in 1918 before "Hōshō"), and (1927). During World War II, these ships would become known as fleet carriers.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: The aircraft carrier dramatically changed naval warfare in World War II, because air power was becoming a significant factor in warfare. The advent of aircraft as focal weapons was driven by the superior range, flexibility, and effectiveness of carrier-launched aircraft. They had greater range and precision than naval guns, making them highly effective. The versatility of the carrier was demonstrated in November 1940, when launched a long-range strike on the Italian fleet at their base in Taranto, signalling the beginning of the effective and highly mobile aircraft strikes. This operation in the shallow water harbor incapacitated three of the six anchored battleships at a cost of two torpedo bombers.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: World War II in the Pacific Ocean involved clashes between aircraft carrier fleets. The Japanese surprise attack on the American Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor naval and air bases on Sunday, 7 December 1941, was a clear illustration of the power projection capability afforded by a large force of modern carriers. Concentrating six carriers in a single unit turned naval history about, as no other nation had fielded anything comparable. Further versatility was demonstrated during the "Doolittle Raid", on 18 April 1942, when US Navy carrier sailed to within of Japan and launched 16 B-25 bombers from her deck in a retaliatory strike on the mainland, including the capital, Tokyo. However, the vulnerability of carriers compared to traditional battleships when forced into a gun-range encounter was quickly illustrated by the sinking of by German battleships during the Norwegian campaign in 1940.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: This new-found importance of naval aviation forced nations to create a number of carriers, in efforts to provide air superiority cover for every major fleet in order to ward off enemy aircraft. This extensive usage led to the development and construction of 'light' carriers. Escort aircraft carriers, such as , were sometimes purpose-built but most were converted from merchant ships as a stop-gap measure to provide anti-submarine air support for convoys and amphibious invasions. Following this concept, light aircraft carriers built by the US, such as , represented a larger, more "militarized" version of the escort carrier. Although with similar complement to escort carriers, they had the advantage of speed from their converted cruiser hulls. The UK 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier was designed for building quickly by civilian shipyards and with an expected service life of about 3 years. They served the Royal Navy during the war, and the hull design was chosen for nearly all aircraft carrier equipped navies after the war, until the 1980s. Emergencies also spurred the creation or conversion of highly unconventional aircraft carriers. CAM ships were cargo-carrying merchant ships that could launch (but not retrieve) a single fighter aircraft from a catapult to defend the convoy from long range land-based German aircraft.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Before World War II, international naval treaties of 1922, 1930, and 1936 limited the size of capital ships including carriers. Since World War II, aircraft carrier designs have increased in size to accommodate a steady increase in aircraft size. The large, modern of US Navy carriers has a displacement nearly four times that of the World War II–era , yet its complement of aircraft is roughly the same—a consequence of the steadily increasing size and weight of individual military aircraft over the years. Today's aircraft carriers are so expensive that some nations which operate them risk significant economic and military impact if a carrier is lost.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Modern navies that operate such aircraft carriers treat them as the capital ship of the fleet, a role previously held by the sailing galleons, frigates and ships-of-the-line and later steam or diesel powered battleships. This change took place during World War II in response to air power becoming a significant factor in warfare, driven by the superior range, flexibility and effectiveness of carrier-launched aircraft. Following the war, carrier operations continued to increase in size and importance, and along with, carrier designs also increased in size and ability. Some of these larger carriers, dubbed by the media as "supercarriers", displacing 75,000 tonnes or greater, have become the pinnacle of carrier development. Some are powered by nuclear reactors and form the core of a fleet designed to operate far from home. Amphibious assault ships, such as the and classes, serve the purpose of carrying and landing Marines, and operate a large contingent of helicopters for that purpose. Also known as "commando carriers" or "helicopter carriers", many have the capability to operate VSTOL aircraft.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: The threatening role of aircraft carriers has a place in modern asymmetric warfare, like the gunboat diplomacy of the past. Carriers also facilitate quick and precise projections of overwhelming military power into such local and regional conflicts.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Lacking the firepower of other warships, carriers by themselves are considered vulnerable to attack by other ships, aircraft, submarines, or missiles. Therefore, an aircraft carrier is generally accompanied by a number of other ships to provide protection for the relatively unwieldy carrier, to carry supplies and perform other support services, and to provide additional offensive capabilities. The resulting group of ships is often termed a battle group, carrier group, carrier battle group or carrier strike group.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: There is a view among some military pundits that modern anti-ship weapons systems, such as torpedoes and missiles, or even ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads have made aircraft carriers and carrier groups too vulnerable for modern combat.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Carriers are large and long ships, although there is a high degree of variation depending on their intended role and aircraft complement. The size of the carrier has varied over history and among navies, to cater to the various roles that global climates have demanded from naval aviation.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Regardless of size, the ship itself must house their complement of aircraft, with space for launching, storing, and maintaining them. Space is also required for the large crew, supplies (food, munitions, fuel, engineering parts), and propulsion. US aircraft carriers are notable for having nuclear reactors powering their systems and propulsion.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: The top of the carrier is the flight deck, where aircraft are launched and recovered. On the starboard side of this is the island, where the funnel, air-traffic control and the bridge are located.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: The constraints of constructing a flight deck affect the role of a given carrier strongly, as they influence the weight, type, and configuration of the aircraft that may be launched. For example, assisted launch mechanisms are used primarily for heavy aircraft, especially those loaded with air-to-ground weapons. CATOBAR is most commonly used on US Navy fleet carriers as it allows the deployment of heavy jets with full load-outs, especially on ground-attack missions. STOVL is used by other navies because it is cheaper to operate and still provides good deployment capability for fighter aircraft.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Due to the busy nature of the flight deck, only 20 or so aircraft may be on it at any one time. A hangar storage several decks below the flight deck is where most aircraft are kept, and aircraft are taken from the lower storage decks to the flight deck through the use of an elevator. The hangar is usually quite large and can take up several decks of vertical space.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Munitions are commonly stored on the lower decks because they are highly explosive. Usually this is below the waterline so that the area can be flooded in case of emergency.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: As "runways at sea", aircraft carriers have a flat-top flight deck, which launches and recovers aircraft. Aircraft launch forward, into the wind, and are recovered from astern. The flight deck is where the most notable differences between a carrier and a land runway are found. Creating such a surface at sea poses constraints on the carrier. For example, the fact that it is a ship means that a full-length runway would be costly to construct and maintain. This affects take-off procedure, as a shorter runway length of the deck requires that aircraft accelerate more quickly to gain lift. This either requires a thrust boost, a vertical component to its velocity, or a reduced take-off load (to lower mass). The differing types of deck configuration, as above, influence the structure of the flight deck. The form of launch assistance a carrier provides is strongly related to the types of aircraft embarked and the design of the carrier itself.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: There are two main philosophies in order to keep the deck short: add thrust to the aircraft, such as using a Catapult Assisted Take-Off (CATO-); and changing the direction of the airplanes' thrust, as in Vertical and/or Short Take-Off (V/STO-). Each method has advantages and disadvantages of its own:


title: Aircraft carrier

text: On the recovery side of the flight deck, the adaptation to the aircraft load-out is mirrored. Non-VTOL or conventional aircraft cannot decelerate on their own, and almost all carriers using them must have arrested-recovery systems (-BAR, e.g. CATOBAR or STOBAR) to recover their aircraft. Aircraft that are landing extend a tailhook that catches on arrestor wires stretched across the deck to bring themselves to a stop in a short distance. Post-World War II Royal Navy research on safer CATOBAR recovery eventually led to universal adoption of a landing area angled off axis to allow aircraft who missed the arresting wires to "bolt" and safely return to flight for another landing attempt rather than crashing into aircraft on the forward deck.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: If the aircraft are VTOL-capable or helicopters, they do not need to decelerate and hence there is no such need. The arrested-recovery system has used an angled deck since the 1950s because, in case the aircraft does not catch the arresting wire, the short deck allows easier take off by reducing the number of objects between the aircraft and the end of the runway. It also has the advantage of separating the recovery operation area from the launch area. Helicopters and aircraft capable of vertical or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) usually recover by coming abreast of the carrier on the port side and then using their hover capability to move over the flight deck and land vertically without the need for arresting gear.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Carriers steam at speed, up to into the wind during flight deck operations to increase wind speed over the deck to a safe minimum. This increase in effective wind speed provides a higher launch airspeed for aircraft at the end of the catapult stroke or ski-jump, as well as making recovery safer by reducing the difference between the relative speeds of the aircraft and ship.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Since the early 1950s on conventional carriers it has been the practice to recover aircraft at an angle to port of the axial line of the ship. The primary function of this angled deck is to allow aircraft that miss the arresting wires, referred to as a bolter, to become airborne again without the risk of hitting aircraft parked forward. The angled deck allows the installation of one or two "waist" catapults in addition to the two bow cats. An angled deck also improves launch and recovery cycle flexibility with the option of simultaneous launching and recovery of aircraft.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Conventional ("tailhook") aircraft rely upon a landing signal officer (LSO, radio call sign 'paddles') to monitor the aircraft's approach, visually gauge glideslope, attitude, and airspeed, and transmit that data to the pilot. Before the angled deck emerged in the 1950s, LSOs used colored paddles to signal corrections to the pilot (hence the nickname). From the late 1950s onward, visual landing aids such as the optical landing system have provided information on proper glide slope, but LSOs still transmit voice calls to approaching pilots by radio.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Key personnel involved in the flight deck include the shooters, the handler, and the air boss. Shooters are naval aviators or naval flight officers and are responsible for launching aircraft. The handler works just inside the island from the flight deck and is responsible for the movement of aircraft before launching and after recovery. The "air boss" (usually a commander) occupies the top bridge (Primary Flight Control, also called "primary" or "the tower") and has the overall responsibility for controlling launch, recovery and "those aircraft in the air near the ship, and the movement of planes on the flight deck, which itself resembles a well-choreographed ballet." The captain of the ship spends most of his time one level below primary on the Navigation Bridge. Below this is the Flag Bridge, designated for the embarked admiral and his staff.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: To facilitate working on the flight deck of a US aircraft carrier, the sailors wear colored shirts that designate their responsibilities. There are at least seven different colors worn by flight deck personnel for modern United States Navy carrier air operations. Carrier operations of other nations use similar color schemes.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: The superstructure of a carrier (such as the bridge, flight control tower) are concentrated in a relatively small area called an "island", a feature pioneered on in 1923. While the island is usually built on the starboard side of the flight deck, the Japanese aircraft carriers and had their islands built on the port side. Very few carriers have been designed or built without an island. The "flush deck" configuration proved to have significant drawbacks, primary of which was management of the exhaust from the power plant. Fumes coming across the deck were a major issue in . In addition, lack of an island meant difficulties managing the flight deck, performing air traffic control, a lack of radar housing placements and problems with navigating and controlling the ship itself.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Another deck structure that can be seen is a ski-jump ramp at the forward end of the flight deck. This was first developed to help launch short take off vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft take off at far higher weights than is possible with a vertical or rolling takeoff on flat decks. Originally developed by the Royal Navy, it since has been adopted by many navies for smaller carriers. A ski-jump ramp works by converting some of the forward rolling movement of the aircraft into vertical velocity and is sometimes combined with the aiming of jet thrust partly downwards. This allows heavily loaded and fueled aircraft a few more precious seconds to attain sufficient air velocity and lift to sustain normal flight. Without a ski-jump, launching fully-loaded and fueled aircraft such as the Harrier would not be possible on a smaller flat deck ship before either stalling out or crashing directly into the sea.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Although STOVL aircraft are capable of taking off vertically from a spot on the deck, using the ramp and a running start is far more fuel efficient and permits a heavier launch weight. As catapults are unnecessary, carriers with this arrangement reduce weight, complexity, and space needed for complex steam or electromagnetic launching equipment. Vertical landing aircraft also remove the need for arresting cables and related hardware. Russian, Chinese, and Indian carriers include a ski-jump ramp for launching lightly loaded conventional fighter aircraft but recover using traditional carrier arresting cables and a tailhook on their aircraft.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: The disadvantage of the ski-jump is the penalty it exacts on aircraft size, payload, and fuel load (and thus range); heavily laden aircraft can not launch using a ski-jump because their high loaded weight requires either a longer takeoff roll than is possible on a carrier deck, or assistance from a catapult or JATO rocket. For example, the Russian Sukhoi Su-33 is only able to launch from the carrier with a minimal armament and fuel load. Another disadvantage is on mixed flight deck operations where helicopters are also present, such as on a US landing helicopter dock or landing helicopter assault amphibious assault ship. A ski jump is not included as this would eliminate one or more helicopter landing areas; this flat deck limits the loading of Harriers but is somewhat mitigated by the longer rolling start provided by a long flight deck compared to many STOVL carriers.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: The US Navy has the largest fleet of carriers in the world, with eleven supercarriers currently in service. China and India each have two STOBAR carriers in service. The UK has two STOVL carriers in service. The navies of France and Russia each operate a single medium-sized carrier. The US also has nine similarly sized Amphibious Warfare Ships. There are five small light carriers in use capable of operating both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters; Japan and Italy each operate two, and Spain one.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Additionally there are seventeen small carriers which only operate helicopters serving the navies of Australia (2), Brazil (1), China (2), Egypt (2), France (3), Japan (4), South Korea (2), and Thailand (1).


title: Aircraft carrier

text: "Kalaat Béni Abbès" (L-474) is an amphibious transport dock of the Algerian National Navy with two deck-landing spots for helicopters.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: The Royal Australian Navy operates two s. The two-ship class, based on the Spanish vessel and built by Navantia and BAE Systems Australia, represents the largest ships ever built for the Royal Australian Navy.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: In December 2017, the Brazilian Navy confirmed the purchase of for (GBP) £84.6 million (equivalent to R$359.5M and US$113.2M) and renamed it . The ship was decommissioned from Royal Navy service in March 2018. The Brazilian Navy commissioned the carrier on 29 June 2018 in the United Kingdom. After undertaking a period of maintenance in the UK, was expected to travel to its home port, Arsenal do Rio de Janeiro (AMRJ) and be fully operational by 2020. The ship displaces 21,578 tonnes, is long and has a range of .


title: Aircraft carrier

text: China is planning a class of eight landing helicopter dock vessels, the Type 075 (NATO reporting name Yushen-class landing helicopter assault). This is a class of amphibious assault ship under construction by the Hudong–Zhonghua Shipbuilding company. The first ship was commissioned in April 2021. China is also planning a modified class of the same concept, the Type 076 landing helicopter dock, that will also be equipped with an electromagnetic catapult launch system.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Egypt signed a contract with French shipbuilder DCNS to buy two helicopter carriers for approximately 950 million euros. The two ships were originally destined for Russia, but the deal was cancelled by France due to Russian involvement in Ukraine.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: The French Navy operates the , a 42,000-tonne nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, commissioned in 2001 and is the flagship of the French Navy. The ship carries a complement of Dassault Rafale M and E‑2C Hawkeye aircraft, EC725 Caracal and AS532 Cougar helicopters for combat search and rescue, as well as modern electronics and Aster missiles. She is a CATOBAR-type carrier that uses two 75 m C13‑3 steam catapults of a shorter version of the catapult system installed on the US carriers, one catapult at the bow and one across the front of the landing area. In addition, the French Navy operates three s.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: In October 2018, the French Ministry of Defence began an 18-month study for €40 million for the eventual future replacement of the beyond 2030. In December 2020, President Macron announced that construction of the next generation carrier would begin in around 2025 with sea trials to start in about 2036. The carrier is planned to have a displacement of around 75,000 tons and to carry about 32 next-generation fighters, two to three E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes and a yet-to-be-determined number of unmanned carrier air vehicles.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: India has plans for a third carrier, , also known as "Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 2 (IAC-2)" with a displacement of over 65,000 tonnes is planned with a CATOBAR system to launch and recover heavier aircraft.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Italy plans to replace ageing aircraft carrier "Giuseppe Garibaldi", as well as one of the landing helicopter docks, with a new amphibious 'assault ship, to be named . The ship will be significantly larger than her predecessors with a displacement of 38,000 tonnes at full load. "Trieste" is to carry the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter. Meanwhile, "Giuseppe Garibaldi" will be transferred to Italian Space Operation Command for use as a satellite launch platform.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: In December 2018, the Japanese Cabinet gave approval to convert both "Izumo-class" destroyers into aircraft carriers for F-35B STOVL operations. The conversion of "Izumo" was underway as of mid-2020. The modification of maritime escort vessels is to "increase operational flexibility" and enhance Pacific air defense, the Japanese defense ministry's position is "We are not creating carrier air wings or carrier air squadrons" similar to the US Navy. The Japanese STOVL F-35s, when delivered, will be operated by the Japan Air Self Defense Force from land bases; according to the 2020 Japanese Defense Ministry white paper the STOVL model was chosen for the JASDF due the lack of appropriately long runways to support air superiority capability across all of Japanese airspace. Japan has requested that the USMC deploy STOVL F-35s and crews aboard the "Izumo-class" ships "for cooperation and advice on how to operate the fighter on the deck of the modified ships".


title: Aircraft carrier

text: 1 STOBAR carrier: "Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov": 55,000-tonne STOBAR aircraft carrier. Launched in 1985 as "Tbilisi", renamed and operational from 1995. Without catapults she can launch and recover lightly fueled naval fighters for air defense or anti-ship missions but not heavy conventional bombing strikes. Officially designated an aircraft carrying cruiser, she is unique in carrying a heavy cruiser's complement of defensive weapons and large P-700 Granit offensive missiles. The P-700 systems will be removed in the coming refit to enlarge her below decks aviation facilities as well as upgrading her defensive systems.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: The Russian Government has been considering the potential replacement of "Admiral Kuznetsov" for some time and has considered the Shtorm-class aircraft carrier as a possible option. This carrier will be a hybrid of CATOBAR and STOBAR, given the fact that she utilizes both systems of launching aircraft. The carrier is expected to cost . As of 2020, the project had not yet been approved and, given the financial costs, it was unclear whether it would be made a priority over other elements of Russian naval modernization.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Two 18,860-tonne full deck amphibious assault ships with hospital and well deck and facilities to serve as fleet flagships.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: South Korea has set tentative plans for procuring two light aircraft carriers by 2033, which would help make the ROKN a blue water navy. In December 2020, details of South Korea's planned carrier program (CVX) were finalized. A vessel of about 40,000 tons is envisaged carrying about 20 F-35B fighters as well as future maritime attack helicopters. Service entry had been anticipated in the early 2030s. The program has encountered opposition in the National Assembly. In November 2021, the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly reduced the program's requested budget of 7.2 billion KRW and to just 500 million KRW (about $400K USD), effectively putting the project on hold, at least temporarily. However, on 3 December 2021 the full budget of 7.2 billion won was passed by the National Assembly. Basic design work is to begin in earnest starting 2022.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: 1 offshore helicopter support ship: helicopter carrier: 11,400-tonne STOVL carrier based on Spanish design. Commissioned in 1997. The AV-8S Matador/Harrier STOVL fighter wing, mostly inoperable by 1999, was retired from service without replacement in 2006. As of 2010, the ship is used for helicopter operations and for disaster relief.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: is a 27,079-tonne amphibious assault ship (LHD) of the Turkish Navy that can be configured as a 24,660-tonne V/STOL aircraft carrier. Construction began on 30 April 2016 by Sedef Shipbuilding Inc. at their Istanbul shipyard and the ship is expected to be commissioned in December 2022. The construction of a sister ship, to be named TCG "Trakya", is currently being planned by the Turkish Navy.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Two 65,000-tonne "Queen Elizabeth"-class STOVL carriers which operates the F-35 Lightning II. was commissioned in December 2017 and in December 2019.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: The "Queen Elizabeth"-class ships are expected to have service lives of 50 years; therefore, there are no current studies on their replacement.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Nine amphibious assault ships carrying vehicles, Marine fighters, attack and transport helicopters, and landing craft with STOVL fighters for CAS and CAP:


title: Aircraft carrier

text: The current US fleet of "Nimitz"-class carriers will be followed into service (and in some cases replaced) by the . It is expected that the ships will be more automated in an effort to reduce the amount of funding required to maintain and operate the vessels. The main new features are implementation of Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) (which replace the old steam catapults) and unmanned aerial vehicles. In terms of carrier future developments, Congress has discussed possibly accelerating the phasing out of one or more Nimitz-class carriers, postponing or canceling the procurement of the CVN-82 and CVN-81, or modifying the purchase contract.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: Following the deactivation of in December 2012, the US fleet comprised 10 fleet carriers, but that number increased back to 11 with the commissioning of "Gerald R. Ford" in July 2017. The House Armed Services Seapower subcommittee on 24 July 2007, recommended seven or eight new carriers (one every four years). However, the debate has deepened over budgeting for the $12–14.5 billion (plus $12 billion for development and research) for the 100,000-tonne "Gerald R. Ford"-class carrier (estimated service 2017) compared to the smaller $2 billion 45,000-tonne s, which are able to deploy squadrons of F-35Bs. The first of this class, , is now in active service with another, , and 9 more are planned.


title: Aircraft carrier

text: In a report to Congress in February 2018, the Navy stated it intends to maintain a "12 CVN force" as part of its 30-year acquisition plan.


title: Michael Owen

text: Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, as well as for the England national team. Since retiring from football in 2013, he has become a racehorse breeder and owner and regularly features as a sports pundit and commentator.


title: Michael Owen

text: The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen was born in Chester and began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. Displaying rapid pace and composed finishing, he progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his Premier League debut in May 1997, becoming the club's youngest goalscorer, at . In his first full season in the Premier League, Owen finished as joint top scorer with 18 goals, sharing the Premier League Golden Boot. He repeated this the following year and was Liverpool's top goal-scorer from 1997 to 2004, gaining his name as a proven goal-scorer despite suffering from a recurring hamstring injury. In 2001, Liverpool won a cup treble of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup (with Owen scoring two late goals in the final) and Football League Cup, and Owen was the recipient of the Ballon d'Or. He went on to score 118 goals in 216 appearances in the Premier League for Liverpool, and 158 goals in 297 total appearances. Regarded as one of the greatest Liverpool players, Owen came 14th in the "100 Players Who Shook The Kop", an official Liverpool fan poll. In 2004, Owen was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.


title: Michael Owen

text: After Liverpool had fallen behind their title rivals under Gérard Houllier's final two seasons, Owen opted not to renew his contract and then moved to Real Madrid for £8 million in the summer of 2004. There he was frequently used as a substitute. He scored 13 goals in La Liga before returning to England the following season where he joined Newcastle United for £16.8 million. This was after Owen's disappointment that Real had rejected a bid from Liverpool to re-sign him. After a promising start to the 2005–06 season, injuries largely ruled him out over the next 18 months. After his return, he became team captain and was the team's top scorer for the 2007–08 season. Newcastle were relegated in the 2008–09 season and, in a surprise move, Owen moved to Manchester United as a free agent. He spent three years at Old Trafford before joining Stoke City in September 2012. Owen is one of ten players to have scored 150 or more goals in the Premier League. He is also the youngest player to have reached 100 goals in the Premier League. On 19 March 2013, Owen announced his retirement from playing at the end of the 2012–13 season.


title: Michael Owen

text: Internationally, Owen first played for the senior England team in 1998, becoming England's youngest player and youngest goalscorer at the time. His performance at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, which included a goal against Argentina in which he ran from the halfway line, brought him to national and international prominence, making him one of the most sought after players in world football. He went on to score in UEFA Euro 2000, the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004. He is the only player to have scored in four consecutive major tournaments for England. He played at the 2006 World Cup, but suffered an injury which took him a year to recover from. Occasionally playing as captain, he is England's 11th-most-capped player and has scored a former national record (since overtaken by Wayne Rooney) of 26 competitive goals, with 40 in total from 89 appearances, most recently in 2008.


title: Michael Owen

text: Owen was born in Chester, Cheshire, the fourth child of Jeanette and Terry Owen. His father is a former professional footballer and played for clubs such as Chester City and Everton. Owen was introduced to football at the age of seven by his father who soon saw Michael as the most promising athlete in the family. A boyhood Everton fan, Owen attended Rector Drew Primary School in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales and by the age of ten, some of the nation's leading scouts were monitoring his progress.


title: Michael Owen

text: At eight, Owen was selected for the Deeside Area Primary School's Under-11 team. At nine, he was captain and at ten he had smashed Ian Rush's 20-year record for the same team by scoring 97 goals in a single season, improving on Rush's record by 25 goals. Owen also broke Gary Speed's appearance record having played in all three seasons for the 11-year-olds since he was eight. Owen turned out for the youth team of Mold Alexandra, playing with the under-10s at the age of eight after a local physical education teacher, Howard Roberts, persuaded the league to allow an under-age player. Owen scored on his debut for Mold Alexandra, a 2–0 victory over local rivals Bagillt. He went on to score 34 goals in 24 games in his first season with Mold Alexandra. After leaving Deeside, Owen attended Hawarden High School, where he also played for the school team.


title: Michael Owen

text: At age 12, when Owen started attending secondary school, he became eligible to sign a schoolboy contract with a club. The first major club to spot him playing for Deeside was Liverpool. Brian Kidd came down from Manchester United and there was also interest from Chelsea and Arsenal. But Steve Heighway, the Liverpool youth development officer, wrote to Owen personally. Terry Owen stated: "[Heighway] wrote us a smashing letter and it was love at first sight for Michael, he was impressed from day one." Owen subsequently signed with the Liverpool youth team. The club then persuaded Owen to attend the FA's School of Excellence at Lilleshall in Shropshire at age 14. Owen was soon playing for England teams from under-15 upwards, breaking several scoring records with 28 goals in 20 games for the England u-15s and u-16s. Owen also scored prolifically as he rose rapidly through the Anfield youth ranks. Throughout this time, Owen had continued his studies and achieved ten GCSEs. Despite the academic success, Owen was adamant his future was a professional football career with Liverpool.


title: Michael Owen

text: In the 1995–96 season, Owen played for Liverpool's youth team even though he was still at Lilleshall. Most of the players were 18, but Owen was only 16. He scored a hat-trick against FA Youth Cup holders Manchester United in the quarter-finals, scoring the winner in extra time. Owen subsequently scored another hat-trick in a 4–2 win in the first leg of the semi against Crystal Palace. Liverpool were 3–0 down after only 50 minutes in the second leg, but with Owen taking control of the match and scoring twice, the team ran out as 7–5 winners. Liverpool faced West Ham United in the final, played over two legs as well. West Ham had not lost in 24 consecutive games, and had future England stars Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard. Owen missed the first leg at Upton Park as he was on tour duty with the England under-16 team in the European youth championship in Austria. He returned for the second-leg where Liverpool had fallen behind early but Owen equalised with his eleventh goal in five cup matches and Liverpool won the match 2–1. It was the first time Liverpool had won the FA Youth Cup in the club's history and Owen was widely considered the star of the FA Cup campaign.


title: Michael Owen

text: Owen celebrated his 17th birthday by signing a professional contract with Liverpool. He was handed a place in Roy Evans' senior squad, with Steve Heighway stating that, "[Owen] is ready for whatever you throw at him; nothing fazes Michael Owen. He's ready. If the manager wants a recommendation from me, Michael gets it." Owen also declared his aim was "a first-team place in the next year or so". Karl-Heinz Riedle, who prior to joining Liverpool in the summer of 1997 had never heard of Owen, declared, "It's unbelievable when you see him play to realise that he's only 17," he said. "He's such a good player, so very quick and for his age he has excellent vision and awareness. He's a great player already and in one or two years he will become a very great player." Owen was rated as "the best attacker of his age in the country" in January 1997. Ted Powell, the championship-winning coach of the England under-18 side, declared Owen to be the best of a generation of young players that included Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Robbie Fowler.


title: Michael Owen

text: On 6 May 1997, Owen scored on his Liverpool debut against Wimbledon at Selhurst Park. Liverpool were league title challengers to Manchester United but their failure to beat Wimbledon in the penultimate game of the league season handed the championship to United. The "Liverpool Echo" wrote, "[Only] Michael Owen could emerge with any credit from a performance that mocked Anfield's rich traditions." Owen, who had come on as a substitute in the second half, "[breathed] new life into the Reds' championship corpse," and "began [Liverpool's] best spell of the night", but was ultimately not able to salvage a win. The "Liverpool Echo" stated, "It was a debut marked in the grand manner."


title: Michael Owen

text: Owen replaced the injured Robbie Fowler as Liverpool's first choice striker in 1997–98. He won the Premier League Golden Boot and was awarded the PFA Young Player of the Year award. Owen also finished in third place in the PFA Player of the Year voting behind Dennis Bergkamp and Tony Adams. Owen recorded many personal feats during the season and helped Liverpool challenge for the league championship, but ultimately a run of bad form in February saw the club bowing out of the title race. The "Liverpool Echo" wrote that, "[Owen] has become Liverpool's most precious performer and, quite simply, their saviour." Owen signed a five-year contract with Liverpool worth £2.5 million during the season. His £10,000-a-week deal made him the highest-paid teenager in the history of British football. Owen was runner-up to Zinedine Zidane in the World Player of the Year award, also finishing in fourth position in the FIFA World Player of the Year and European Player of the Year international awards.


title: Michael Owen

text: Owen retained the Premier League Golden Boot in 1998–99 despite incurring a hamstring injury against Leeds United that prematurely brought his season to an end on 12 April. With his pace identified as his greatest strength, Liverpool's game had revolved around feeding him with through passes and long balls. Owen constantly moved from static positions to full speed in a matter of split seconds. ESPN wrote, "It [would] eventually [prove] too much for [Owen's] hamstring to handle. Liverpool failed to challenge for the league title that season despite Owen's brilliant form. The club had appointed a new manager in Gérard Houllier and were transitioning out of the Spice Boys era. Owen ended the 1998–99 season as runners-up to Nicolas Anelka in the PFA Young Player of the Year award.


title: Michael Owen

text: Owen returned to action after almost five months of layoff during the 1999–2000 season. He played intermittently throughout the season and ended up ceding the Golden Boot to Kevin Phillips. He had completed only six full games by January and, during a frustrating spell punctuated by recurring breakdowns, had managed to stay the 90 minutes only three times since mid-October. Owen injured his hamstring once again while playing against Middlesbrough in January. He remained out of action for well over a month and later received treatment from German doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt. The persistent hamstring problems ended up robbing Liverpool of Owen for a third of a season in which a lack of goals eventually cost them a place in the Champions League.


title: Michael Owen

text: Owen helped Liverpool to a treble in 2000–01, as the team won the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup to end a six-year trophy drought. Owen was the recipient of the European Player of the Year award in recognition of his performances that season. He became the first English winner of the European Footballer of the Year award since Kevin Keegan was given the honour in 1979. Owen scored both Liverpool goals late in the 2001 FA Cup Final to turn around what had appeared to be a certain defeat for Liverpool at the hands of Arsenal.


title: Michael Owen

text: Liverpool and Owen challenged for the league championship during the 2001–02 season. The team eventually finished runners-up to Arsenal, with Owen playing a key part in the campaign. On 29 December 2001, Owen scored his 100th goal for Liverpool during the season against West Ham United. He also led them to success in the Charity Shield and the UEFA Super Cup during the start of the season in 2001. Liverpool thus became the first English team to win five trophies in one calendar year. Owen signed a four-year contract worth £70,000-a-week with Liverpool during the season, making him one of the highest earners in the English Premiership.


title: Michael Owen

text: Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez started as early as in March 2002 to pursue Owen. Pérez declared his intentions to make Owen the next "Galáctico", stating that "the best players must play for Real Madrid". Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier laughed off any apparent interest, saying, "They might be able to afford Ronaldo but they cannot afford Michael Owen. For that kind of money they could only buy his left foot but he is not going anywhere. Michael is Liverpool through and through and he is staying with me."


title: Michael Owen

text: Owen continued with strong performances in the 2002–03 season which saw Liverpool top the league table and remain unbeaten for several months. However, a run of disastrous results starting from November and culminating in January saw the team bow out of the title race. Chelsea pipped Liverpool to the fourth and final Champions League spot on the final day of the season. Owen was also controversially overlooked for the PFA Player of the Year award during the season. He had continued establishing personal records with Liverpool and had scored his 100th Premier League goal on 26 April against West Bromwich Albion. Success in the League Cup also meant that Liverpool had ended up with a trophy for a third consecutive season. Owen had scored in the League Cup Final against Manchester United to clinch the trophy for Liverpool.


title: Michael Owen

text: Liverpool's failure to qualify for the Champions League led to speculation about Owen's long-term future. Transfer speculation had continued linking him to Real Madrid and Barcelona. Owen was quoted as saying, "I really have to be playing in the Champions League and that is something [Liverpool] have to remedy." Owen would later refute the quote, stating, "Some of the words I never even said and the rest were taken completely out of context."


title: Michael Owen

text: Houllier moved to re-shape the Liverpool squad in 2003 to reassure Owen. He stated, "We want to win the title. This is our vision at Liverpool – and we want to win it with Michael in our team." Michael is a genuine world-class player. He has had a great season and I think he will be even better next season." Bolton Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce was quoted as saying, "Stop Michael Owen scoring and you are 50 per cent towards getting a result at Anfield," while Owen had admitted to being frustrated at the lack of support play from his teammates.


title: Michael Owen

text: After a shaky start to the 2003–04 season, Liverpool emerged as title contenders once more, with Owen leading the charge. Owen, however, would suffer an ankle injury while playing against Arsenal on 3 October and consequently went through "three months of injury nightmare". Owen only played intermittently over the following months, suffering from niggling ankle and hamstring injuries, while Liverpool's season fell apart. After a goal drought lasting nine games and three months, Owen returned to fitness and scoring form with a goal against Manchester City on 11 February. Owen helped reignite Liverpool's hunt for fourth spot, scoring his 150th goal for Liverpool in the subsequent match against Portsmouth on 15 February, and although suffering from further injuries, ultimately led Liverpool to the fourth and final Champions League spot.


title: Michael Owen

text: Following Gérard Houllier's sacking as Liverpool manager, speculation about Owen's departure from the club began. During the first few Champions League games at the start of the 2004–05 season, Owen sat on the bench to avoid being cup-tied for the Champions League, something that would have meant he would be unable to play in European competitions for any other club that season. Since 1998, Owen had been Liverpool's top scorer every season until he left the club. Real Madrid signed him for a fee of £8 million on 13 August 2004, with midfielder Antonio Núñez moving in the other direction as a make-weight.


title: Michael Owen

text: Following their successful bid, Owen was presented with the number 11 shirt by Real Madrid. Owen joined the club during its "Galácticos" era, and played alongside Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Raúl, Luís Figo, Zinedine Zidane and his England teammate David Beckham.


title: Michael Owen

text: Owen had a slow start to his Madrid career. He was often confined to the bench and drew criticism from fans and the Spanish press for his lack of form. A successful return to action with the England squad in October 2004 seemed to revive his morale, however, and in the first following match, he scored his first goal for the club, the winner in a 1–0 Champions League victory over Dynamo Kyiv. A few days later, he scored his first La Liga goal in a 1–0 victory over Valencia. The scoring spree continued, as he found the back of the net in three of the next four matches to make it five goals in seven matches.


title: Michael Owen

text: On 10 April 2005, Owen scored Real Madrid's fourth goal in a 4–2 "El Clásico" win over Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.


title: Michael Owen

text: Owen ended the 2004–05 season with 13 goals in La Liga, with the season's highest ratio of goals scored to number of minutes played. Following Madrid's signing of two high-profile Brazilian forwards, Robinho and Júlio Baptista, in the summer of 2005, the speculation arose that Owen would return to the Premier League. During his time at Real Madrid, Owen scored 16 goals from 45 games, 26 of which were starts.


title: Michael Owen

text: On 24 August 2005, Newcastle United announced that they had agreed to a club record fee of £16.8 million to obtain Owen, although they still had to negotiate with the player's advisers. Liverpool and local rivals Everton entered the fray, but were unwilling to match Madrid's asking price. As the 2006 World Cup was less than a year away, Owen wanted to get more playing time to secure his position as the first-choice striker in the England squad and joined Newcastle amid rumours that he had inserted an escape clause valued at £12 million. On 31 August 2005, Owen signed a four-year contract to play for Newcastle, despite initial press speculation that he would rather have returned to Liverpool. Some 20,000 fans were present at Newcastle's home ground of St James' Park for Owen's official unveiling as a Newcastle player. Several days after signing, he suffered a thigh-injury in pre-season, which ruled him out for the start of the 2005–06 season. He scored his first goal for the club on his second appearance, the second goal in a 3–0 away win at Blackburn Rovers on 18 September, Newcastle's first win of the season. Owen scored his first hat-trick for Newcastle in the 4–2 away win over West Ham United on 17 December. It was also a "perfect hat trick", with one goal scored with each of his left foot, right foot and head.


title: Michael Owen

text: On 31 December 2005, Owen broke a metatarsal bone in his foot in a match against Tottenham Hotspur. He underwent surgery to place a pin in the bone, to help speed the healing process. He was expected to be out of action until late March, but the healing process did not go as hoped and on 24 March he underwent a second, minor operation. Owen then stated that he should be fit for the final few weeks of the season with Newcastle. His return to action finally came against Birmingham City on 29 April when he came off the substitutes' bench in the 62nd minute. After the match, Owen stated that he was "not 100% happy" with his foot. He underwent a further X-ray and made himself unavailable for Newcastle's final game of the season.


title: Michael Owen

text: A damaged anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee, sustained in the first minute of the group match against Sweden at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, kept Owen out of regular football for nearly a year, until April 2007. The seriousness of Owen's injury at the World Cup inflamed the so-called "club-versus-country" row in England, centring on the liability of the world governing body FIFA and The Football Association (FA) for the cost of injuries to players incurred while on international duty. Newcastle were aggrieved at the length of time Owen would now be out of action in forthcoming Premier League and Cup competitions as a result of the World Cup injury, particularly as he had been out for the half-season prior to the World Cup. Under the existing insurance arrangements between club and country, FIFA and the FA had been paying £50,000 of Owen's £110,000 weekly wages since he suffered the injury, totalling approximately £2 million for the time he was out of action. By September 2006, Newcastle were threatening to sue the FA for further compensation, for a reported figure of £20 million. The Owen case was a high-profile follow-up to an already ongoing legal claim for compensation from FIFA over an injury incurred by Abdelmajid Oulmers on international duty.


title: Michael Owen

text: Newcastle's compensation claim included the £10 million cost of buying Owen's replacement, Obafemi Martins, £6.2 million towards Owen's salary costs while injured, the possibility of long-term damage to Owen's fitness and ability, the loss of league position and cup competition progress, depreciation of Owen's four-year contract, and the cost of medical treatment for Owen. In February 2007, FIFA made Newcastle a "final offer" of £1 million. By April 2007, Newcastle were threatening to take out an injunction to stop the FA from picking Owen for England games. The club finally reached a compromise settlement figure with FIFA and the FA; FIFA indicated that the settlement was between £6 million and £7 million. The club, stating that Owen's wages had "now been paid in full", stated the overall compensation achieved totalled £10 million. Resulting from the Owen compensation claim, the FA doubled their future insurance coverage of England players to £100,000, and FIFA introduced a compensation fund for injuries sustained at World Cups.


title: Michael Owen

text: Owen began light training on 12 February 2007, when pictures on the club's official website highlighted Owen running and carrying out minor exercises. He made his comeback from injury on 10 April 2007 in a 4–1 behind-closed-doors friendly against Gretna, scoring after ten minutes and then setting up fellow striker Shola Ameobi before coming off an hour later. Owen then started his first game for Newcastle in over a year, a 1–0 loss against Reading on 30 April 2007. He played the full 90 minutes, having a goal disallowed for offside.


title: Michael Owen

text: Owen was stretchered off an hour into Newcastle's game with Watford on 13 May 2007, suffering concussion after colliding with teammate Matty Pattison.


title: Michael Owen

text: On 9 May 2007, Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd reacted angrily to reports that Owen could move on to another club at the end of the 2006–07 season due to a release clause in his contract. A report in "The Times" newspaper suggested Owen could be available for less than £10 million and could be a target for the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. Despite these reports, Shepherd warned Owen "to show some loyalty" and warned him that "none of the big four clubs want him". In a video posted on YouTube, however, a group of Liverpool fans asked Shepherd if they could re-sign Owen, he responded by saying that he would "carry Owen back to Liverpool" himself. Shepherd also stated his dislike of Owen's agent but praised Owen as a "good lad". This led many to believe that Owen would exercise his right to leave if the £9 million valuation was matched. On 10 June 2007, Owen's new manager at Newcastle, Sam Allardyce, confirmed the existence of the release clause in Owen's contract and said he feared that the club would be powerless to prevent Owen from leaving. On 12 July 2007, however, Owen committed his immediate future to Newcastle, stating, "I believe that these can be good times to be at Newcastle, which is why I am more than happy to be here."


title: Michael Owen

text: On 17 July 2007, he scored for Newcastle in a pre-season friendly against Hartlepool United. Several days later, Owen picked up a thigh injury in training. Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce said that Owen was likely to miss the start of the forthcoming Premier League season due to the injury which "doesn't look as encouraging as we first thought". Owen made his comeback from injury in a club friendly on 13 August 2007 and declared himself available for Newcastle's next match, against Aston Villa, as well as England's forthcoming international matches. On 29 August 2007, Owen scored his first competitive goal for Newcastle since December 2005 when he scored in the League Cup against Barnsley. Three days later, he scored in the league with a late winner against Wigan Athletic.


title: Michael Owen

text: In late September 2007, after an encouraging start to the season playing for both Newcastle and England, it was reported that he would urgently require an operation for a double hernia and would likely be out of action for at least a month. In his first match back from the hernia operation, he scored a late goal coming off the substitutes bench to clinch victory for Newcastle over Everton.


title: Michael Owen

text: In November 2007, Owen suffered a thigh strain while on international duty, ruling him out for six weeks. This reignited the "club or country" row, with then Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce voicing his disappointment that Owen was risked in a low-key friendly game against Austria.


title: Michael Owen

text: After over three months without a goal, Owen scored the first goal of the second Kevin Keegan era in a 4–1 FA Cup third round replay win over Stoke City on 16 January 2008, although Keegan was only a spectator in the stands for this game. Owen was awarded the captaincy by Keegan on 19 January 2008. He scored his first league goal of 2008 on 3 February. Owen's goal in the 2–0 defeat of Fulham on 22 March 2008, which marked Newcastle's first win under Keegan's second spell as manager, also marked the first time in his Newcastle career that Owen had scored more goals for Newcastle than against them. By 5 April 2008, after his and the team's early season poor form, Owen had scored six goals in the previous six matches, with Newcastle registering four wins and two draws, lifting Newcastle into mid-table after earlier relegation fears. In the final game of the season, Owen scored in a 3–1 loss at Everton, finishing with 11 goals in total, putting him in equal 13th position for Premier League goals for the 2007–08 season.


title: Michael Owen

text: Owen missed all of the pre-season matches and training of the 2008–09 season due to a bout of mumps, which also kept him out of the international friendlies with the USA and Trinidad and Tobago in May 2008. He also suffered a calf strain during the summer months which kept him out of the opening game of the season against Manchester United at Old Trafford, a game which Newcastle drew 1–1. He made his return in the second game of the season against Bolton Wanderers on 23 August 2008, coming on in the 53rd minute for the injured Obafemi Martins. He scored the winning header in the 71st minute, with the game finishing 1–0. Three days later, he was named on the bench in a League Cup match away to Coventry City, he came on as a substitute and scored the winner in extra time in a 2–3 victory. In the 2008–09 season, he featured more consistently than in prior seasons, scoring four goals in twelve league appearances.