Lethe
Captain
I guess you will have to ask the "fan boys" in the People's Liberation Army Navy.
055 DDG Large Destroyer Thread
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I guess you will have to ask the "fan boys" in the People's Liberation Army Navy.
Jura The idiot
General
you might want to check related discussion here I mean since ... let me see, starting at page 220 with
Iron Man, Oct 19, 2016
Bltizo, Oct 19, 2016
... it had gone for several days (I happen to know because I even said something
I'm still not clear why there are still people questioning the need for 055 design for China, going so far as to label anyone who in favor of such a destroyer as fan boys.
I mean, look around the navies around Wes Pacific: Japan has Kongo class, Atago class; South Korea has KDX-III; the US has Arleigh Burke class and Ti-Conderoga class. They're all 10,000t or above destroyers/cruisers. Instead of asking for a rationale for 055, people need to provide a rationale for why not. Seriously.
Larger = More space for VLS and weapons, as well as sensors, C2, more buoyancy, more crew (meaning better damage control) etc.
Larger truly is better most of the times when it comes to naval ships. This hasnt changed from the BB days.
And, of course; a source of more national pride.
Or is anyone really going to claim that the USN and the JMSDF does not take pride in their many 9000+ ton destroyers and "destroyers"?
Larger truly is better most of the times when it comes to naval ships. This hasnt changed from the BB days.
And, of course; a source of more national pride.
Or is anyone really going to claim that the USN and the JMSDF does not take pride in their many 9000+ ton destroyers and "destroyers"?
vesicles
Colonel
If we look at PLAN's various programs, we will see that "developing bigger ships simply for the sake of having big ships for national pride only" is not on the minds of PLAN planners.
They take a very conservative direction with their CV's. Instead of building bigger and bigger carriers with flashy techs (surely attracts more national pride), they have chosen to spend the next 50 years building mid-sized carriers with established tech (or old tech if you will). It is clear that they made the decision to go slow and small on the CV's based on their knowledge/technology level and their future strategic goals.
They have apparently decided to go with a much more aggressive direction with the Type 055. that's most likely because their strategic goals require such big destroyers. And they are confident that their current tech-know-how can allow them to pull it off.
The decision on how to progress in each of their weapons development programs is actually a case-by-case thing. For instance, on fighters, they decided to stick with the Suhkoi family planes. So they patiently keep modifying them for their different needs. And it looks like they will stick with the Suhkoi series for the foreseeable future. Then they are also developing new stealth fighters aggressively. We see the J-20 pace is so fast. We also see that they adopt a much more aggressive pace with their UAV development. On the other hand, their bomber development is much much slower. They are still modifying their H-6...
So it's not about bigger and flashier toys. Of course, garnering national pride is good. However, it is clear that their main goal is their national defense and how to best maximize their technology and funding to achieve the best national defense possible.
Very good points! If a small country like Japan, which is still limited by international laws to have defensive weapons only at this point, can have huge destroyers, why can China not?
China is so much bigger. China's coast line (east and south) is almost as long as that of the US. It makes sense that China needs advanced and powerful weapons as much as anyone else.
Historically, China's coasts have faced much more aggression than anyone else. There is an estimate that China's east and south coasts had been attacked over 150 times by various foreign powers just within the past century. Thus, China has every reason to develop huge battle ships. The appropriate question should be "why hasn't China developed huge destroyers faster?"
I guess you will have to ask the "fan boys" in the People's Liberation Army Navy.
Considering the exceedingly impressive degree of corruption revealed in top ranks of the PLA, it would be truly unbelievable if PLA's acquisition is not also influenced to a impressive degree by political considerations of pleasing non-professional fan boys in the power structure of the government and amongst the uninformed public.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
I think the biggest justification for the 055 are mainly two-fold.
1) Future growth potential.
The future of naval warship design lies with railguns, directed energy weapons, and even more powerful sensors. Potentially even energy shielding.
That all takes enormous amounts of power, which a bigger hull is better placed to being able to provide on tap, or have the growth potential to add in additional power generation capacity to meet future power needs of next gen weapons and systems.
2) Endurance.
A big lesson the PLAN took from their anti-piracy developments is the importance of good endurance on their warships.
Even though China is busy laying the ground work for a network of foreign resupply bases. Those are going to be few and far between, as well as being lightly or even undefended against a determined attack by a major power.
The 055 is the result of the PLAN assuming the worst - that its overseas interests may be attacked by a powerful, local rival power. In which case it has to assume its overseas bases in the region will be taken out during the opening stages.
Compared to the 052D, the 055 will enjoy a significant range and munitions load advantage. Allow it to travel further and fight harder between re-supplies.
It is for the same reason I would expect that the PLAN to rapidly transition to larger, nuclear powered aircraft carriers in the future.
1) Future growth potential.
The future of naval warship design lies with railguns, directed energy weapons, and even more powerful sensors. Potentially even energy shielding.
That all takes enormous amounts of power, which a bigger hull is better placed to being able to provide on tap, or have the growth potential to add in additional power generation capacity to meet future power needs of next gen weapons and systems.
2) Endurance.
A big lesson the PLAN took from their anti-piracy developments is the importance of good endurance on their warships.
Even though China is busy laying the ground work for a network of foreign resupply bases. Those are going to be few and far between, as well as being lightly or even undefended against a determined attack by a major power.
The 055 is the result of the PLAN assuming the worst - that its overseas interests may be attacked by a powerful, local rival power. In which case it has to assume its overseas bases in the region will be taken out during the opening stages.
Compared to the 052D, the 055 will enjoy a significant range and munitions load advantage. Allow it to travel further and fight harder between re-supplies.
It is for the same reason I would expect that the PLAN to rapidly transition to larger, nuclear powered aircraft carriers in the future.
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