The launch this November of the Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian is another example of just how fast Beijing is expanding its navy. Fujian is China's most advanced aircraft carrier and the second-largest in the world after the USS Gerald R. Ford. What's more, its commissioning is putting pressure on the United States and its allies to keep up with China's ever-expanding military capability.
The Fujian also serves as an example of just how far the aircraft carrier has evolved since planes began to take off and land on the decks of ships over 100 years ago. The Second World War saw battles fought almost entirely between carrier-based aircraft. Later in the 1960s, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carriers appeared. Indeed, the story of how these formidable naval vessels are able to deploy and recover aircraft at sea is as fascinating as it is complex.
To learn more about how planes were supplied with runways at sea, click on and launch this gallery.