PLAN Aircraft Carrier programme...(Closed)

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latenlazy

Brigadier
by78 said:
Hmmmm... Steam cats, they say? I haven't heard anything new about them for over eight years. I am skeptical, but I'd love to be proven wrong.
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If anyone who's in HK or has a connection in HK could find the mag and get a copy of the original source...:D
 
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latenlazy

Brigadier
Bltizo said:
Hong Kong media typically aren't known for their accuracy on PLA affairs...
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SCMP is highly reliable, but they're not the primary source in this case. HK has a reputation for yellow journalism, but there are some reliable outlets as well. Not sure the magazine they're routing this information from is one of them, but that's why it would be helpful to find the primary source.
 
Jeff Head

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
12755243423_7197425d7d_o.jpg


Folding tail assembly, rertactable radar. Nice colors. Nice AEW Squadron inisignia. Very nice ideed.

It would be interesting to know some details about their radar and command capabilities too. The radar they are using. Its range, resolution, number of simulatneous tracks, number of simultaneous targets, etc.

I wonder how many they will base on each carrier. Probably three would be my guess.
 
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Engineer

Engineer

Major
hkbc said:
To BUILD a vessel is just welding and riveting steel unless you are telling me they use superglue! What you are referring to is DESIGNING the vessel not building one the guy with the welding torch doesn't need to know about ballasting just that part A needs to be attached to part B. The guy with the headaches is the one who has to come up with the plans for the vessel, given the Chinese already have one that works it follows they have some plans for it so that guy has done his bit.
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It's actually the reverse: designing is easy, but actual production is difficult. Certain neighbor south of China is a good anti-example. That neighbor has a lot of designs, but can hardly bring any of them into production.

To build a vessel, you weld modules together. However, the devil is in the details. Here are some issues for you to nibble on:
  • How to ensure hundred of modules can be fitted together and aligned perfectly?
  • High-strength steels have special welding requirements. How would you maintain welding conditions so that the steels don't lose their high-strength property? How would you ensure the quality of your welds?
  • When there are different types of metal used, they accelerate corrosion. How would you prevent that from happening while still being able to use different materials?
 
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xiabonan

Junior Member
Engineer said:
It's actually the reverse: designing is easy, but actual production is difficult. Certain neighbor south of China is a good anti-example. That neighbor has a lot of designs, but can hardly bring any of them into production.

To build a vessel, you weld modules together. However, the devil is in the details. Here are some issues for you to nibble on:
  • How to ensure hundred of modules can be fitted together and aligned perfectly?
  • High-strength steels have special welding requirements. How would you maintain welding conditions so that the steels don't lose their high-strength property? How would you ensure the quality of your welds?
  • When there are different types of metal used, they accelerate corrosion. How would you prevent that from happening while still being able to use different materials?
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I fully concur with this one.

I remember vividly about a Discovery Channel documentary I've once watched. It's about the construction of Bush, the last Nimitz Class carrier. I was deeply moved by how each and every worker interviewed took so much pride in their job and do their job well, for tens of years. Some of these men are generations of ship-builders, whose parents or even grandparents all worked at the very same shipyard. I saw this kind of tradition, pride, and professionalism in documentaries about Rolls Royce engines and Lamborghini as well. To me, I feel that an army of highly skillful, highly responsible, and highly professional workers and technicians who truly enjoy and take pride in what they do, is the most valuable assets to any industrialised nation.

Workers and technicians aside, to build world-class carriers on schedule, you need world-class shipyard management and world-class ship-building techniques. We have seen that Chinese shipyards are capable of delivering modern frigates and destroyers in batches, each within almost the same amount of time; it will be another great challenge for the shipyards to delivery the same kind of results for carrier building.

To me, what's truly amazing and admirable about US carrier-building, is not exactly that they can build state-of-the-art war machines like the Enterprise, Nimitz, or Ford. What's more important is that they can serial produce these carriers, and complete each one within a reasonable period of time which is highly predictable (the same can be said about Japanese shipbuilding actually, it's just that they haven't demonstrated this capability in building carriers, though I really don't doubt they can do it).

For China to really grow into a formidable naval force in the world, we need to have this kind of ship-building capabilities. In short, the capability to produce highly sophisticated carriers with little to none major hiccups or problems, in batches, over a span of decades.
 
by78

by78

General
Engineer said:
It's actually the reverse: designing is easy, but actual production is difficult. Certain neighbor south of China is a good anti-example. That neighbor has a lot of designs, but can hardly bring any of them into production.
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I must be slow, but which neighbor south of China were you referring to?
 
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