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A mother ship, mothership or mother-ship is a large vehicle that leads, serves, or carries other smaller vehicles. A mother ship may be a maritime ship, aircraft, or spacecraft.
Examples include bomber aircraft converted to carry experimental aircraft to altitudes where they can conduct their research (such as the B-52 carrying the X-15), or ships that carry small to an area of ocean to be explored (such as the Atlantis II carrying the DSV Alvin).
A mother ship may also be used to recover smaller craft, or go its own way after releasing them. A smaller vessel serving or caring for larger craft is usually called a tender ship.
Mother ships can carry small and to an area of ocean to be explored (such as the Atlantis II carrying the DSV Alvin).
Somali pirates use mother ships to extend their reach in the Indian Ocean. For example, the FV Win Far 161 was captured and used as a mother ship in the Maersk Alabama hijacking.
During World War II the Japanese Mitsubishi G4M bomber was used to carry the rocket-powered Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka aircraft, used for kamikaze attacks, within range of a target ship. Germany also planned a jet-carrying bomber, called the Daimler-Benz Project C.
In the US, NASA has used converted bombers as launch platforms for experimental aircraft. Notable among these was the use during the 1960s of a modified Boeing B-52 Stratofortress for the repeated launching of the North American X-15.
Captive carry is typically used to conduct initial testing on a new airframe or system, before it is ready for free flight "Lockheed LRASM completes captive carry tests", Flightglobal (Retrieved 29 Sept 2014)Munro, Krus and Llewellyn; "Captive carry testing as a means for rapid evaluation of handling qualities", ICAS, 2002 "X-34 Rocket Plane Takes to the Sky as Part of Safety Check", NASA (Retrieved 29 Sept 2014)
Captive carry is sometimes also used to transport an aircraft or spacecraft on a ferry flying. Notable examples include:
The first experiments with to launch and recover fighters were carried out during World War I.
The British experimented with the 23-class airships from that time. Then in the 1920s, as part of the "Airship Development Programme", they used the R33 for experiments. A de Havilland Humming Bird light aeroplane with a hook fitted was slung beneath it. In October 1925 Squadron Leader Rollo Haig, was released from the R33, and then reattached. Later that year, the attempt was repeated and the Humming Bird remained attached until the airship landed. In 1926, it carried two Gloster Grebe fighters releasing them at the Pulham and Cardington airship stations.
In the U.S., USS Los Angeles (ZR-3), used for prototype testing for the Akron and Macon airborne aircraft carriers.
During World War II the Soviet Tupolev-Vakhmistrov Zveno project developed converted Tupolev TB-1 and TB-3 aircraft to carry and launch up to five smaller craft, typically in roles such as fighter escort or fighter-bomber.
During the early days of the jet age, fighter aircraft could not fly long distances and still match point defence fighters or interceptors in dogfighting. The solution was long-range bombers that would carry or tow their escort fighters.
B-29 Superfortress and B-36 Peacemaker bombers were tested as carriers for the RF-84K Thunderflash (FICON project) and XF-85 Goblin fighters.
In November 2014, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) requested industry proposals for a system in which small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) would be launched and recovered by their existing conventional large aircraft, including the B-52 Stratofortress and B-1 Lancer bombers and C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster III transports. Unmanned And Manned Aircraft Will Have To Learn To Rely On Each Other – Aviationweek.com, 25 November 2014
The Scaled Composites White Knight series of aircraft are designed to launch spacecraft which they carry underneath them.
A mothership may be large enough that its body contains a station for the rest of the fleet. Examples include the large craft in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Battlestar Galactica.
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