As I already noted so often to @WebMaster ... we urgently need you as a moderator and I do not understand why he still waits to promote you.
00X future carrier/nuclear carrier
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As I already noted so often to @WebMaster ... we urgently need you as a moderator and I do not understand why he still waits to promote you.
We have only heard about prefabricated modules for the Jiangnan carrier. Compared to Jiangnan, the Dalian shipyard has little history of ship construction using prefabricated modules, so I assume that it will be built in the traditional method.
This is only speculation, of course.
It is possible (perhaps even likely) that construction on 004 has already started. We just won't see any modules until 3-5 years in the future.
Remember that steel cutting for the 003 purportedly started in 2015, but we didn't see modules until 2018, and there will not be hull assembly until later this year or maybe even 2020.
So, my interpretation is that Dalian has been upgrading its facilities to construct CVN for a while now, and that they are beginning to fabricate modules for 004, but we will not see direct photographic evidence until years later.
SinoSoldier
Colonel
FZGFZY clarified that he thinks facility modifications will take place over 2 years.
Remember, he's been saying that since last year already. It's possible for facilities to be upgrading, while using existing facilities to produce some components at the same time.
Also, the rumors surrounding steel cutting of a new ship are typically quieter than this, so I suspect that with the recent wave of posts, the construction of the ship is already underway since earlier this year.
Well, the thing is, there is no good way to generate electricity from nuclear without generating steam first. So it is nothing like marine diesels or gas turbines.
Typically with nuclear you generate steam and then use a steam turbine to convert the heat into electricity.
Since you already have the steam you might as well use it for the catapults even if it is less efficient. This would allow them to test both catapult types simultaneously in case the EMALS fails for some reason. On the other hand using gas turbine propulsion and steam catapults makes no sense. You would basically need to use boilers similar to those in the Liaoning.
If you are using petroleum based marine fuels for propulsion the gas turbine will be more efficient than the boilers. So in that case it would make more sense to use EMALS assuming they can get it to work.
If they're confident enough with EM cats that they are going with it for their first CATOBAR carrier there should be no rationale for them to feel the need to go the complex way of having to test steam catapults as well.
We don't even know definitively what kind of propulsion arrangement 002 will have; it might rely on steam boilers as well for all we know.
If anything, nuclear power should make it more logical to continue using EM cats rather than reverting to steam for some reason because nuclear power will be able to generate far more electricity.
asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
So has Dalian got a carrier under construction?
I see, but is there an explanation for how we saw modules as early as 2018 if construction only started in 2017?
Well, the easy explanation is that China works fast.
More seriously, are Dalian and Jiangnan the only Chinese shipyards capable of building 100,000+ ton nuclear supercarriers or are there other yards currently capable of doing this? How long would it take to bring a middling shipyard up to the standards of DN/JCNX? Two yards cranking out behemoths nonstop for the next two decades is great, but one would feel better if there were three doing it.
Lethe
Captain
I am wondering whether it might not make sense for PLAN to pursue a two-tier carrier fleet. The first tier would consist of smaller (~75,000 tons) and cheaper conventionally powered carriers, designed primarily for fleet operations in the Western Pacific, while the latter would be larger (~120,000 tons), nuclear-powered carriers designed chiefly for power projection in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf regions.
The pursuit of such a structure would involve building the smaller, conventionally-powered carriers first, and the nuclear-powered carriers later. This chronology would allow China to rapidly close the "carrier gap" considerably in the region of greatest concern (i.e. within the first two island chains) without overly stressing the budget. The nuclear carriers would develop in concert with China's budgetary resources, other forms of power projection capabilities such as intercontinental bombers, and economic-institutional forms of power and deepening global engagement. Overall, it would deliver China a formidable carrier fleet at much lower cost than its American equivalent.
The pursuit of such a structure would involve building the smaller, conventionally-powered carriers first, and the nuclear-powered carriers later. This chronology would allow China to rapidly close the "carrier gap" considerably in the region of greatest concern (i.e. within the first two island chains) without overly stressing the budget. The nuclear carriers would develop in concert with China's budgetary resources, other forms of power projection capabilities such as intercontinental bombers, and economic-institutional forms of power and deepening global engagement. Overall, it would deliver China a formidable carrier fleet at much lower cost than its American equivalent.
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