00X/004 future nuclear CATOBAR carrier thread
- Thread starter AETHER
- Start date
That definitely appears not to be a 004 or even a 003, but a 002 mockup flight deck. Which makes the google map measurement of ~310m make a lot more sense.
proelite
Junior Member
That US didn't go past 100k isn't really a valid argument. Soviets didn't go past 55k and US still made 100k carriers.
In practice, the carrier size limitation is more determined by if the shipbuilder and navy can accommodate that. Herein lies the greatest argument against a large supercarrier: it flies against the common sense of distributed lethality.
Imho it does not make too much sense because it will be putting too many valuable eggs (airframes) into 1 basket. We can however just wait and see how it turns out.
In practice, the carrier size limitation is more determined by if the shipbuilder and navy can accommodate that. Herein lies the greatest argument against a large supercarrier: it flies against the common sense of distributed lethality.
Imho it does not make too much sense because it will be putting too many valuable eggs (airframes) into 1 basket. We can however just wait and see how it turns out.
The island superstructure mockup for the Fujian is also built on the same carrier mockup building at Huangjiahu as the previous island superstructure mockup for Shandong, and the same will be done for the 004's island superstructure in the coming months.
Hence the reason for 004's island superstructure mockup location that seems to be all the way at the "stern" of the carrier mockup building. The actual CVN warship will actually extend for another ~20-30 meters beyond the "stern" end of the carrier mockup building.
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That still doesn't change the fact this is ALL speculation.
Maybe instead of building super aircraft carriers the Chinese will build anti-ship fractional orbital bombardment rockets. Imagine a space rocket that can orbit the Earth, fall out of orbit above an enemy target, and strike precisely on the deck of a moving ship trying to evade.
Nobody has a monopoly on the future. My idea is equally valid as your 150,000 ton carrier.
Yep, it is speculation, so we'll have to see what happens.
But I would point out that the Chinese Navy have already decided that a smaller carrier (primarily for drones?) with an electromagnetic catapult makes sense.
A 150k ton "megacarrier" would be a scaled up version of a 100k ton supercarrier, with dimensions some 15%? larger in terms of length x width x height. That is an evolutionary change and well within the bounds of current engineering.
In comparison, an anti-ship fractional orbital bombardment rocket is a step change and would require the development of entirely new materials and technology - which may or may not be possible.
The two concepts simply do not have the same level of validity.
Can we stop talking about the idea of a 150,000 ton supercarrier?
There are no credible indications of it being pursued or developed. If that changes then we can start talking about it, but as of right now it basically just amounts to fanboy fantasizing.
There are no credible indications of it being pursued or developed. If that changes then we can start talking about it, but as of right now it basically just amounts to fanboy fantasizing.
