Aircraft carriers as fast transports?

[Admiral Beez]

Did WW2 era CVs serve as fast transports for land forces? With a CAG on deck, could the hangar be loaded with trucks, light AFVs or even tanks? Tanks would likely be challenging due to their weight on the deck beams. Lift weight limits will also be an issue, though some carriers had direct access to the hangar bay, such as the aft door on Glorious or the deck edge lifts on USN ships.

With most transport ships running at 10 knots or so, it would be a way to quickly get land forces into position. You'd need the CAG on deck for defence or another CV as escort.

CoG and metacentric height will also need to be considered.

 

[GrauGeist]

The Imperial Japanese Army had something close to this with their escort carriers Akitsu Maru and Nagitsu Maru, which were used to ferry men, equipment and aircraft and are considered to be the first amphibious assault ships.

They were equipped with about 8 native aircraft for defense, though they couldn't be recovered due to the short flight deck.

These Marus could make 20 knots.

 

[Admiral Beez]

The Imperial Japanese Army had something close to this with their escort carriers Akitsu Maru and Nagitsu Maru, which were used to ferry men, equipment and aircraft and are considered to be the first amphibious assault ships.

They were equipped with about 8 native aircraft for defense, though they couldn't be recovered due to the short flight deck.

These Marus could make 20 knots.

That's pretty cool. I'm surprised the fighters couldn't land, as the deck looks as long as any 18-20 knot CVE. But I don't see any arrestor wires.

These Kokusai Ki-76 aircraft look more reconnaissance than defensive. The Kayaba Ka-1 autogyro would be innovative.

Escort Aircraft Carrier Akitsu Maru - Strategy & History

 

[The Basket]

Not sure if the IJA operated carriers but more as glorified transports. If anyone got info that they operated as carrier that be good. Other than basic slow aircraft.

The Ki-76 was a Storch clone so top speed was slow to backwards so not a fighter. So used in the usual recon roles.

I'm sure if the IJA needed help to operate carriers, their good friend the IJN would have be more than happy to tell them to get stuffed.

HMS Furious was used as a transport so check that out to see if she was used in odd way.

 

[GrauGeist]

The IJA had several small carriers, transports and submarines.

Unlike the US Army's considerable fleet of ships that worked alongside the USN, the IJA did not have a spirit of co-operation with the IJN.

 

[Admiral Beez]

HMS Furious was used as a transport so check that out to see if she was used in odd way.

I wonder how much weight the lower or upper hangar deck on Furious could take. I don't know if the below is the upper or lower hangar, but I think it's the upper with the light at the bow doors, rather than the lower hangar with the light at the narrower stern doors. Either way, this looks quite fragile.

A loaded Fairey Barracuda weighed 13,200 lb (6,000 kg), or 6 metric tons, about equal to a loaded British army lorry, Bedford QL - Wikipedia . The lower hangar had an armoured floor, so perhaps that's where we'd put anything heavier than a truck.

 

[The Basket]

Aircraft carriers are hot stuff so you don't want them appearing near any kind of enemy land mass as they will become a very tempting target.

So this will not work as transporting war material for such a high value target is like going to the shops in your Ferrari. Waste of a high value asset.

Post war carriers like Hosho were used as repatriation ships using that empty space to carry back people.

 

[GreenKnight121]

Also, only very late in the war were there anywhere near enough carriers to spare even one for transport duties - and then only in the USN.

Note that I am not considering CVEs, as the OP seems to be referring to fleet carriers only.