HMS Ark Royal (R09) was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1979, was the Royal Navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier. She was the first aircraft carrier to be equipped with an angled flight deck at its commissioning; her sister ship, HMS Eagle, was the Royal Navy's first angle-decked aircraft carrier after modification in 1954. Ark Royal was the only non-United States vessel to operate the McDonnell Douglas Phantom at sea.
HMS Ark Royal with Phantom FG1 and Buccaneer S2 aircraft on deck, 1976
Ark in the late 1950s, before the port deck-edge lift was removed
Ark Royal in 1957
Ark Royal (background) operating with USS Independence (foreground) in the North Atlantic, 1971
The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters and other VTOL aircraft is also referred to as the flight deck. The official U.S. Navy term for these vessels is "air-capable ships".
Flight deck of Charles de Gaulle, catapults are installed on aircraft carriers in three countries.
Eugene Ely's first landing, on the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania
HMS Argus showing the full-length flight deck from bow to stern
ROKS Dokdo's full length flight deck