Aircraft Carriers II (Closed to posting)

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Jeff Head

Jeff Head

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bd popeye said:
I agree..there's a tried and true method of operating aircraft carriers...
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Here's how she will look.

vikrant02.jpg


vikrant10.jpg


What gets me about the Indians is that they do something like this that any other nation, particularly if it was their first indgenous carrier, would make a big deal of, with press and posts, and announcements, press releases, and pictures.

Try and find one picture of the new Indian Carrier being floated. I cannot find one.

and the idea that any major machinary is not already in the vessel when floated seems almost preposterous to me. Really? The main gear box not installed yet?

Gotta be more to this story. I knew they were getting close...but this sounds more like a story to keep people thinking they are making progress, when perhaps they have run into troubles.

We shall see.
 
MwRYum

MwRYum

Major
Jeff Head said:
Gotta be more to this story. I knew they were getting close...but this sounds more like a story to keep people thinking they are making progress, when perhaps they have run into troubles.
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Think quoting the full article helps...
The first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) of the Navy was floated out at the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), at a low-key event attended by senior shipping and naval officers on Thursday.

Among those present were Union Shipping Secretary K. Mohandas; Rear Admiral K.N. Vaidyanathan, Director General, Naval Design; and Commodore K. Subramaniam, Chairman and Managing Director of CSL.

The floating ceremony was followed by a meeting to review the progress in the work being done on the aircraft carrier, a 40,000-tonne fleet air defence platform of the Navy, which will be named after the legendary INS Vikrant. The Union Shipping Secretary told The Hindu that the work on the carrier was progressing, albeit not as per schedule, as so many variables were being factored into the extremely complex construction process.

The official added that the commissioning of the carrier, the keel of which was laid in February 2009, was likely to overshoot its original timeline.

According to a senior naval functionary, the carrier was ‘technically floated out' as the shipyard needed the dry-dock for ‘some other commercial work.' “The carrier has taken on about 14,000 tonnes. She would now undergo interior outfitting, including the laying of pipes before being dry-docked again in the latter half of next year for integration of the propulsion gear-box, generators and the like,” he told The Hindu.

As earlier reported by The Hindu, a delay in the delivery of gear boxes and associated systems had considerably slowed down the construction of the prestigious carrier. Naval officers, however, put on a brave face saying that the phase in which teething trouble was encountered was over. “The gear box is ready and undergoing trials, at last. The underwater package is all lined up but the rest of the equipment has to be identified and tested,” said a naval source.

After facing initial hiccups due to paucity of supply of steel, the carrier project got the much-required thrust with the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) and the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) fashioning carrier-grade steel indigenously.

After the steel supply stabilised, problems pertaining to quality gearbox put the brakes on the project. Elecon Engineering Company Limited, a Gujarat-based firm which had earlier manufactured CODOG marine gear boxes for the Navy's Shivalik-class stealth frigates, found itself in the red attempting to make the carrier's huge main gearboxes. “They have been able to overcome the difficulties with support from a German firm,” said a Navy officer.
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Well it ain't chest deep, but definitely waist deep if they keep on delaying.
 
Obi Wan Russell

Obi Wan Russell

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It sounds to me like only the lower half of the hull has been completed; 14,000 tonnes is a small percentage of a 40,000 tonne carrier. Probably not completed much above (eventual) waterline, and with the main machinery spaces still easily accesible from above for items such as the reportedly late arriving gearboxes to be lowered in. Once the main decks and hangar deck have been built on top (let alone the flight deck) installing heavy items of plant just becomes too problematic, because you have to dismantle structure you have only just fitted.

In the 1950s when HMS Victorious was rebuilt from the Hangar deck upwards, halfway into the refit it was discovered that here bolers and Steam Turbines would only last another eight years so they would have to be replaced. By this point the hangar deck and flight deck had been rebuilt over them, and the work had to be undone to swap out the machinery. Very expensive and time consuming back then, unthinkable nowadays. I'd imagine the reason photos of the incomplete hull are hard to come by is as much to do with the fact that at this stage of the build, the hull is unrecognisable as anything in particular. When the first CVF superblock was rolled out of the building hall in Glasgow, unless you knew what it was you wouldn't have recognised it as an aircraft carrier key component.

I seem to recall the original plan was to assemble the hull up to the point where it reached 24,000 tonnes, at which point it would have reached the maximum capacity of the existing dry dock and would then be floated out for further assembly work to be carried out alongside to complete the hull. As with her (distant) cousin the Italian Cavour, she may not have her bows fitted at this stage, as they are beeing built nearby to be attached later. The Italians did have a major part in the design stage of this ship after all, and their engineering solutions may well have transferred across too.
 
Obi Wan Russell

Obi Wan Russell

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Re: Aircraft Carriers II: Captain's Log Supplemental;

Actually having had a little look around for photographic evidence (scant though it is) of the state of construction, I think it may be the stern of the ship that is yet to be fitted rather than the bows:
 

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navyreco

navyreco

Senior Member
Rafale M landing at night...
[video=youtube;zByPa5jN3V4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zByPa5jN3V4[/video]
really can't see shit...
 
D

delft

Brigadier
As for the "lifts".. that must be an Indian design. I've never seen that before. Maybe it's done to protect the aircraft and personnel against a heavy sea state.(big waves)
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I remember seeing photographs of flattops with similar aircraft elevators. That was long ago ( I don't remember their names or when ) and they were small by current standards. Remember that the British had the aircraft elevators near the mid line of the ship ( I remember HNethMS Karel Doorman with this arrangement ) no doubt to keep the seas out of the hangar deck. Does the Thai aircraft carrier have them at the deck edge?
 
bd popeye

bd popeye

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Does the Thai aircraft carrier have them at the deck edge?
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here's a photo of the seldom seen Thai CV, HTMS Chakri Naruebet. She has a single "lift" on the stern.

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An AV-8 Harrier "Jump Jet" sits on the deck of The Royal Thai Naval HTMS CHAKRI NARUEBET (CVH 911), a helicopter carrier, near the coast of Thailand.
Date 3 April 2001 photo by PH3 ALEX C. WITTE, USN/US Navy released.
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HTMS CHAKRI NARUEBET

Type: V/STOL carrier
Displacement: 11,486 tons full load
Length: 182.65 m (599.2 ft) (overall)
174.1 m (571 ft) (flight deck)
164.1 metres (538 ft) (between perpendiculars)
Beam: 22.5 m (74 ft) (waterline)
30.5 m (100 ft) maximum
Draught: 6.12 m (20.1 ft)
Propulsion: 2 x GE LM2500 gas turbines providing 22,125 shp (16,499 kW)
2 x Bazán-MTU 16V1163 TB83 diesel engines providing 5,600 bhp (4,200 kW)
2 x shafts with 5-bladed propellers
Speed: 25.5 knots (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph) (maximum)
17.2 knots (31.9 km/h; 19.8 mph) (cruising)
Range: 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
7,150 nautical miles (13,240 km; 8,230 mi) at 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Troops: Up to 675 soldiers
Complement: 62 officers
393 sailors
146 aircrew
Sensors and
processing systems: Hughes SPS-52C air search radar, E/F band
2 x Kelvin-Hughes 1007 navigational radars
Electronic warfare
and decoys: Decoys:
4 x SRBOC decoy launchers
SLQ-32 towed decoy
Armament: 2 x 0.5-inch machine guns
3 x dual Mistral surface-to-air missile launchers
Aircraft carried: 6 AV-8S Matadors
4-6 S-70B Seahawks
Up to 14 additional helicopters when required
Aviation facilities: 174.6-by-27.5-metre (573 by 90 ft) flight deck
12° ski-jump
Hangar space for 10 aircraft
 
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