But isn't the type 004 supposed to be 330 to 340m long so its probably not it
00X/004 future nuclear CATOBAR carrier thread
- Thread starter AETHER
- Start date
It's not the full length but the length of the hull but the model is slightly narrower than what is spotted at DL yard, so it could simply be a revision of the 004 hull.
Are the size similarity between Nimitz/Ford and the speculated Type 004 due to some mathematical calculation regarding optimal carrier size and dimension? Have carriers that are considerably larger ever been proposed or studied? I find it interesting that the size of nuclear powered carriers all fit within a narrow range of size.
There was some discussion earlier in the year about the possibility of the Type 004 being a 150k ton mega-carrier. @Lethe posted an American study from 1991 that among other things discussed a hypothetical 215k carrier and a semi-submersible 660k carrier.
In theory, you only want to go bigger. More volume means more capacity for aircraft storage and maintenance, larger fuel and weapons stores, and a larger deck area means more space for parking and easier handling of aircraft. Steel is cheap and air is free, so building a bigger hull isn't the problem.
What usually constrains carrier size are infrastructural and/or logistical concerns, like the size of existing dry docks for construction and maintenance, or the depth of your military harbours, or transit infrastructure like canals. US carriers are already way too big for the Panama, and are just under the beam limit (77.5 m) of the Suez.
So by building a hypothetical carrier of 150k+ tons, part of the challenge is building the ship itself, but the bigger investment is having to upgrade all your infrastructure to support a warship with outsized dimensions (e.g. 15m draft which might only be compatible with 1 or 2 of your largest military docks) while being subject to other constraints, like not being able to transit the Suez if the overall beam exceeds 77.5 m (or 50 m at the waterline).
Regarding the progress of this mystery ship (if it is indeed a carrier) and wanting to confirm its status/identity, I would like to bring people's attention back to the construction of 002 (then known as 001A for a long while), with this handy compilation of its progress with timestamps:
We can see that the first "sign" of 002's construction was in February/March 2015, and it was only in October 2015 when the more upper level hangar modules were installed on the base hull, was it agreed upon at the time that it was definitively a carrier based on imagery analysis alone (rumours of course at the time were very clear that it was a carrier).
What it means for us, for this mystery ship, is that we will probably have to wait until hangar modules are installed onto the base hull (if it is a carrier) to confirm its status. At present, it seems that the grapevine is being a bit shy about not directly and explicitly stating whether this is a carrier or not.
In terms of when we can anticipate the hangar modules to be installed on the base hull, that is a whole other matter because it seems this mystery ship is progressing somewhat slower than 002 is -- not entirely unexpected because if this mystery ship is a carrier or even a nuclear powered carrier as suspected, it would not only be quite a bit larger than 002 but also a much more ambitious design.
It seems with this mystery ship they are also constructing it in a more "super block" modular fashion not dissimilar to 003, rather than the method for 002 where they installed modules onto the hull in a more sequential manner.
All of which is to say, if this thing is indeed a carrier, we're probably going to be waiting in anticipation for a while to confirm its status based on imagery alone, as that would only occur when/if hangar modules are installed, and based on when the work of this thing started and its progress, it might take until early or even mid 2026.
(This is assuming there are no deliberate pauses in its work like with what we saw with 003 at Jiangnan)
We can see that the first "sign" of 002's construction was in February/March 2015, and it was only in October 2015 when the more upper level hangar modules were installed on the base hull, was it agreed upon at the time that it was definitively a carrier based on imagery analysis alone (rumours of course at the time were very clear that it was a carrier).
What it means for us, for this mystery ship, is that we will probably have to wait until hangar modules are installed onto the base hull (if it is a carrier) to confirm its status. At present, it seems that the grapevine is being a bit shy about not directly and explicitly stating whether this is a carrier or not.
In terms of when we can anticipate the hangar modules to be installed on the base hull, that is a whole other matter because it seems this mystery ship is progressing somewhat slower than 002 is -- not entirely unexpected because if this mystery ship is a carrier or even a nuclear powered carrier as suspected, it would not only be quite a bit larger than 002 but also a much more ambitious design.
It seems with this mystery ship they are also constructing it in a more "super block" modular fashion not dissimilar to 003, rather than the method for 002 where they installed modules onto the hull in a more sequential manner.
All of which is to say, if this thing is indeed a carrier, we're probably going to be waiting in anticipation for a while to confirm its status based on imagery alone, as that would only occur when/if hangar modules are installed, and based on when the work of this thing started and its progress, it might take until early or even mid 2026.
(This is assuming there are no deliberate pauses in its work like with what we saw with 003 at Jiangnan)
Created a thread in the member's club room area for basically aimless/baseless speculation and moved a post earlier about a 600,000 ton carrier over there.
For all members, in all of the forum categories, discussion around platforms without much basis in reality and without a semi credible rumour base at minimum, will be moved there.
Essentially, for "wouldn't it be neat if..." ideas.
For all members, in all of the forum categories, discussion around platforms without much basis in reality and without a semi credible rumour base at minimum, will be moved there.
Essentially, for "wouldn't it be neat if..." ideas.
Aimless and baseless military platform speculation/fanboy thread
I have a concept: Could we build a super-massive aircraft carrier exceeding 600,000 tons, with a significant portion of its displacement dedicated to ensuring the vessel's survivability and equipment reliability? This would create a mobile fortress capable of withstanding saturation attacks from...
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