Birth of the Aircraft Carrier | HistoryNet

I found this article fascinating especially this excerpt:

"But one man of vision clearly saw the future course of naval warfare. French inventor Clément Ader predicted the flat-top aircraft carrier in his 1909 book L’Aviation Militaire. “An airplane-carrying vessel is indispensable,” Ader wrote. “These vessels will be constructed on a plan very different from what is currently used. First of all the deck will be cleared of all obstacles. It will be flat, as wide as possible without jeopardizing the nautical lines of the hull, and it will look like a landing field….Of necessity, the airplanes will be stowed below decks; they would be solidly fixed, anchored to their bases, each in its place, so they would not be affected by the pitching and rolling. Access to this deck would be by an elevator sufficiently long and wide to hold an airplane with its wings folded. A large, sliding trap would cover the hole in the deck, and it would have waterproof joints, so that neither rain nor seawater, from heavy seas, could penetrate below.”

I found that vision amazing since flight was only about six years old at the time.