1918 Thorneycroft Seaplane Lighter - the World's Oldest Aircraft Carrier?

The headline is great – World’s oldest aircraft carrier discovered rusting by the River Thames.  So is the first sentence: “The worlds’ oldest aircraft carrier which was a precursor to today’s giant Navy vessels has been discovered – rusting by a river bank.”   Reading further, however, it turns out the vessel in question is not HMS Argus of 1918, for example, the forerunner of  all modern aircraft carriers. Instead, the article refers to a 1918 Thorneycroft Seaplane Lighter, a 58′ lighter which literally carried an airplane, specifically a seaplane.   The recently discovered lighter is being restored.

The seaplane could not land on the lighter nor, from appearances, take off.  (The article does say that the plane could “launched by being towed into the wind.”   From studying the photographs, it is unclear to me how this was done.  There seems to be obstructions on the bow to prevent takeoff.  Perhaps if the lighter was towed fast enough.)  Nevertheless the lighter literally was an “aircraft carrier,” because it carried aircraft or one plane anyway.  It was towed behind a ship.

HMS Argus of 1918 - an aircraft take-off, lander and carrier

Was it the “precursor to today’s giant Navy vessels?” That may be too much of a stretch, particularly as 1918  was also the year the HMS Argus went into service. The Argus had a flush deck and aircraft could both land and take off.  And yes, it would also carry the aircraft onboard so it too was an aircraft carrier, as well as being an aircraft take-off and lander, which the lighters never really were.

Thanks to Maritime Great Britain for passing the article along.