In 1849 the
Austrian naval ship took part in the first
aggressive use of balloons in warfare, serving as a balloon carrier (the precursor to the
aircraft carrier) in the first offensive use of
air power in
naval aviation. Austrian forces besieging Venice attempted to float some 200 paper
hot air balloons, each carrying a 24- to 30-pound bomb that was to be dropped from the balloon with a time fuse over the besieged city. The balloons were launched mainly from land; however, some were also launched from
Vulcano. The Austrians used smaller pilot balloons to determine the correct fuse settings. At least one bomb fell in the city; however, due to the wind changing after launch, most of the balloons missed their target, and some drifted back over Austrian lines and the launching ship
Vulcano. Later, during the
American Civil War, about the time of the
Peninsula Campaign,
gas-filled balloons were being used to perform reconnaissance on
Confederate positions. The battles turned inland into the heavily
forested areas of the
Virginia Peninsula where balloons could not travel. A
coal barge, the
George Washington Parke Custis, was cleared of all
deck rigging to accommodate the
gas generators and apparatus of balloons. From this ship, professor
Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, Chief Aeronaut of the
Union Army Balloon Corps, made his first ascents over the
Potomac River and
telegraphed claims of his successful aerial venture. Other barges were converted to assist with the other military balloons transported about the eastern waterways. None of these Civil War craft ever sailed on the high seas. A Confederate balloon carrier, the
CSS Teaser, was in service from 1861 to 1862 before being captured by the Union Navy. In 1913 the Spanish engineer
Leonardo Torres Quevedo designed a new type of boat called "Camp-Vessel", which allowed the transport of
dirigible balloons attached to a
mooring post. He offered the patent to the
British Army, but the project was dismissed. In 1922, the
Spanish Navy constructed an airship carrier called
Dédalo, which served during the
Rif War. ==Types==