Any info on which shipyard is responsible for this tender?
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00X/004 future nuclear CATOBAR carrier thread
- Thread starter AETHER
- Start date
Any info on which shipyard is responsible for this tender?
A google news search for "China navy nuclear" has revealed that the Chinese have built a prototype naval nuclear reactor.
Of course this is not "new" news.
Anyways have there been any rumors / reports of the technical specs of this reactor?
How big is it / horsepower ?
Does it use 90% enriched uranium like the US navy or 20% like the French ?
Is this reactor design exclusive for nuclear carriers or is a nuclear powered cruiser a possibility ?
Of course this is not "new" news.
Anyways have there been any rumors / reports of the technical specs of this reactor?
How big is it / horsepower ?
Does it use 90% enriched uranium like the US navy or 20% like the French ?
Is this reactor design exclusive for nuclear carriers or is a nuclear powered cruiser a possibility ?
Some new development worth keep-in-view (KIV) at the moment.
Firstly, this one from Ayi in late-November, related to the news of both USS Enterprise and USS Dorris Miller to be simultaneously constructed in the same drydock at Newport News:
Translated:
Related to the initial news on the new Ford CVNs, USS John F. Kennedy shouldn't be included in the count (because she is currently still fitting out, and counting her in would make it three instead of two for the US).
Following the same deduction, China's Fujian which already had her 5th sea trials shouldn't be counted as well. Plus, the LHD/As on both sides shouldn't be considered as aircraft carriers (as the total figure also won't equal two for both sides). No other country across the entire world is currently building two full-fledged aircraft carriers, either.
Hence, the only reasonable conclusion which I can come to is that China is also constructing two full-fledged aircraft carriers simultaneously, right now (albeit not necessarily at nearly similar or similar stages of construction).
Secondly, a quote-post by Cute Orca and others just today:
It appears that Cute Orca agrees with @利刃斩海飞剪艏's reply to @菜兵闲谈 that the construction work on the 004 carrier has already started earlier.
@鹰眼军事 also stated that it is concievable to believe (if not confirm) that there won't be a sister ship to Fujian, while implying that the era of nuclear-powered (aircraft carriers) is here.
More importantly, there's this replying comments underneath the aforementioned post:
Translated:
So what are they actually trying to say here?
In the meantime, some others in the comment sections in the quote-posts of the initial @琴石2022's post by Cute Orca and others on Weibo seem to be imply/indicate that China is actually building two nuclear-powered CVNs(??!!) right now (again, not necessarily at nearly similar or similar stages of construction).
I am holding my breath on this development. What do you guys make of this?
Firstly, this one from Ayi in late-November, related to the news of both USS Enterprise and USS Dorris Miller to be simultaneously constructed in the same drydock at Newport News:
Translated:
Related to the initial news on the new Ford CVNs, USS John F. Kennedy shouldn't be included in the count (because she is currently still fitting out, and counting her in would make it three instead of two for the US).
Following the same deduction, China's Fujian which already had her 5th sea trials shouldn't be counted as well. Plus, the LHD/As on both sides shouldn't be considered as aircraft carriers (as the total figure also won't equal two for both sides). No other country across the entire world is currently building two full-fledged aircraft carriers, either.
Hence, the only reasonable conclusion which I can come to is that China is also constructing two full-fledged aircraft carriers simultaneously, right now (albeit not necessarily at nearly similar or similar stages of construction).
Secondly, a quote-post by Cute Orca and others just today:
It appears that Cute Orca agrees with @利刃斩海飞剪艏's reply to @菜兵闲谈 that the construction work on the 004 carrier has already started earlier.
@鹰眼军事 also stated that it is concievable to believe (if not confirm) that there won't be a sister ship to Fujian, while implying that the era of nuclear-powered (aircraft carriers) is here.
More importantly, there's this replying comments underneath the aforementioned post:
Translated:
So what are they actually trying to say here?
In the meantime, some others in the comment sections in the quote-posts of the initial @琴石2022's post by Cute Orca and others on Weibo seem to be imply/indicate that China is actually building two nuclear-powered CVNs(??!!) right now (again, not necessarily at nearly similar or similar stages of construction).
I am holding my breath on this development. What do you guys make of this?
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CSSC 712th Institute
The Fujian will eventually take almost 9 years from the start of construction to entry into service. The PLAN's first 100,000-ton nuclear powered super carrier will certainly take even longer.
The PLAN has invested so much into the KJ-600, J-15B, and J-35. I can't imagine they will be content to operate only a single CATOBAR carrier before 2036. My expectation is they will indeed build 2 carriers simultaneously. The nuclear powered one will take 10-12 years to enter service. But a sister ship to the Fujian will require only 5-6 years. So I expect the PLAN's 4th carrier will enter service around 2031, and its 5th carrier around 2036.
The PLAN has invested so much into the KJ-600, J-15B, and J-35. I can't imagine they will be content to operate only a single CATOBAR carrier before 2036. My expectation is they will indeed build 2 carriers simultaneously. The nuclear powered one will take 10-12 years to enter service. But a sister ship to the Fujian will require only 5-6 years. So I expect the PLAN's 4th carrier will enter service around 2031, and its 5th carrier around 2036.
Fujian being China's first ever large flat deck is expected to take long to become service ready. A big chunk of that time must have been on things unrelated to the type of engine power. The assembly could even have been slowed down deliberately to let some critical sub-systems to catch up.
The construction of the next PLAN super carriers, nuclear powered or not, will certainly not need to repeat exactly the same path as Fujian. So it does not make sense to extrapolate the construction timeline of Fujian onto the next ACs.
I guess it depends on certain strategic assumptions and just as importantly the amount of treasure China can throw at the effort. Building two carriers, one a Fujian sibling, and one a CVN/Type 004, would make a lot of sense insofar as it both enables a reasonably paced transition to operational CATOBAR capability and progress to the next generation at the same time.
Its also IMO evident that China has the yard/industrial capacity to do so, with JN and Dalian.
That said end of the day I dont know. It would be a huge effort, and there are other programs swallowing up significant resources, notably the SSN/SSBN production. For the time being we continue to read chicken entrails here.
Fujian is like US building the first catapult variant Midway class in the mid 1950s to Kitty-hawk class in the 1960s, PLUS EMALS on the ford class in 2020s. That accumulation of technology took US 70 years while China did it in 9 years. So IMO 9 years is extremely fast.
After Kitty Hawk, it took US only 7 years from laying down to commission first Nimitz class, or 3 years to commission Enterprise class. If it took China 9 years to do works that took US 70 years, how long do you think it would take China to do the 7 years job of US?
Also, switching convensional power plant to nuclear one is NOT taking very long time, Enterprise class was a good example. It was bad only because USN hurried with bad choice of small reactor, not because it was nuclear. China has been doing reactor for decades longer than US in the 1950s, so China switching to a proper reactor is probably easier than US did in Enterprise (3 years).
Let me calculate that for you ... I got it ... it is 11 months! China can build and commission 004 in 11 months. Wow!
If you are trying to point out some "controverse" of my post, I think your calculation is based on wrong logics. China's transformed from an algriculture scoiety to be equal or surpassing the west in less than 70 years (from 1949 to 2020s). It took Europe more than 250 years to reach todays position. But we know that catching up takes a lot less time, and nobody should expect China to continue at 3.7 times of speed of others from now on.