Seaplane tender

Flying boats and float planes even when based at home in ports and harbour had a need for small support vessels to operate.

These were used to ferry crews, stores and supplies between shore and the aircraft, to maintain the buoys used to mark out "taxiways" and "runways" and to keep these clear of debris to prevent foreign object damage, and in the case of emergency to act as rescue craft and airport crash tenders.

La Foudre carried float-equipped planes under hangars on the main deck, from where they were lowered on the sea with a crane.

In the Battle of Tsingtao, from 5 September 1914, the Imperial Japanese Navy seaplane carrier Wakamiya conducted the world's first naval-launched air raids[3] from Kiaochow Bay.

The tender was often stationed 10 mi (8.7 nmi; 16 km) or so in front of the main battle fleet with the cruiser screen so that it would not fall significantly behind when it launched its aircraft.

Seaplanes could be recovered while the ship was under way through the "Hein Mat" – a sheet towed behind the vessel, once the aircraft was on the mat it was effectively stationary with respect to the ship and could be hoisted aboard.In the inter-war years, it was common for cruisers and battleships to be equipped with catapult-launched reconnaissance seaplanes.

During the Second World War, both the American and the Japanese Navies built a number of seaplane tenders to supplement their aircraft carrier fleets.

The tenders allowed the aircraft to be rapidly deployed to new bases because their runways did not have to be constructed, and support facilities were mobile much like supply ships for submarines or destroyers.