Aircraft Carriers II (Closed to posting)

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franco-russe

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Obi Wan Russell said:
Agreed. To elaborate, after the end of WW2, studies into the effectiveness of AAA fire showed that against determined aerial attack, eg Kamikazes and even regular enemy aircraft, weapons of less than 3 inch calibre were considered near useless as they could not guaratee to knock out an attacker with a single hit. The reality is that smaller caliblres such as 40mm and 20mm continued in service and are still to found aboard ships to this day along with similar calibres, but the emphasis was for heavier weapons. This is why for example when HMS Victorious was rebuilt in the 1950s, her 8 twin 4.5" guns were removed and replaced by a new battery of 6 twin 3" guns (and a six barrelled 40mm mount). Also on the Tiger class cruisers, AA was to handled by three twin 3" automatic mounts. The French had developed the 3.9" (100mm) mount postwar and fitted it to just about every class of warship they built, even their two postwar cruisers (incomplete pre war de Grasse and postwar Colbert) gave up more traditional cruiser heavy guns for AA oriented 3.9" guns. Fitting them as the main defensive battery of the Clemenceaus was in the 1950s a no brainer. That the survived for so long with the advent of Naval SAMs is more due to the squeeze on Defence budgets over the years. Even when the Carriers were refitted with SAM batteries, those guns which were not 'in the way' of the new sponsons were left in situ simply because it was cheaper to leave them there.
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Ah, you are bringing back my boyhood memories. And force me to correct you: as completed, antiarcraft cruisers DE GRASSE and COLBERT mounted an impressive armament of eight twin 127 mm and ten twin 57 mm (same guns as in the SURCOUF class destroyers). Only COLBERT got two 100 mm guns during a 1970-72 conversion into an airdefence missile cruiser with a Masurca launcher aft. DE GRASSE was not modernised, but modified to serve as command ship of the Pacific Test Centre from 1966 to 1972.

But you are entirely right about the French mounting the 100 mm gun in about everything that floated, with a lot of guns to the German first generation new construction ships. And it is kind of nice to see the French 100 mm still being installed in all the new Chinese destroyers!
 
Obi Wan Russell

Obi Wan Russell

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Fair enough on the cruiser guns re-calibres, but I'm fairly sure if they had the 100mm available during the build period they'd have fitted them! The point was that because the emphasis had switched from anti ship fire to anti aircraft fire, lighter calibre faster firing weapons. This was the postwar, pre-SAM solution to defending ships at sea from aircraft. The French Navy was willing to let the Clemenceaus soldier on with obsolete defensive weapons into the 80s because lack of funds meant prioritising the re-arming of escorts before the carriers.
 
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franco-russe

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Oh, absolutely! I have a little booklet from a French naval visit entitled La marine francaise en 1954. That was before the design of the CLEMENCEAU was finalised, and here the armament is indicated as 24 x 57 mm in twin turrets. The ships then looked remarkable like the SCB-27C conversions of the ESSEX class. By the time the two ships were launched, 1957 and 1960, the 100 mm had become available and was duly fitted.

The first surface ships to be armed with the 100 mm gun were actually the German tenders, starting with the RHEIN A 58 in 1959. The first French escort type to have it were the nine frigates of the COMMANDANT RIVIÈRE class 1962-70.
 
navyreco

navyreco

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After a maintenance period, the carrier will begin its "Getting in Operational Condition" maneuvers (MECO). The maneuvers will be performed during one month and their goal is to validate all of the vessel's operational capabilities.

The first part of the deployment will be devoted to training young pilots of Embedded Air Group (GAE). They will perform several catapult launch and landings, both at day and night to get their qualifications. During this period, the GAE will consist of 7 Rafales, 7 Super Etendards Modernisés and 2 E2C Hawkeyes .
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navyreco

navyreco

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Old PA2 - CVF FR animation from 2007... kinda gives a clue of how the Royal Navy CATOBAR CVF may look like
[video=youtube;VjkoxqtdokE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjkoxqtdokE[/video]
 
navyreco

navyreco

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[video=youtube;PGqwN2x2tVE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGqwN2x2tVE&feature=youtu.be[/video]

---------- Post added at 02:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:38 PM ----------

Damages to Illustrious
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bd popeye

bd popeye

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Not good news for the RN here..

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By
Craig Hoyle
on March 19, 2012 1:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The UK Royal Navy helicopter assault ship HMS Illustrious sailed into Portsmouth harbour for repairs yesterday, after the service cut short her planned participation in NATO's Exercise "Cold Response".

"Lusty" had been expected to host a 10-day programme of flying activities in support of the Royal Marines' 42 Commando using an embarked flight of eight Commando Helicopter Force aircraft: four Westland Sea King HC4s, three Lynx AH7s and one Lynx HMA8.

The vessel's involvement had already been restricted by heavy snowfall, which led to a suspension of flying operations. Then an overzealous tug boat bashed into her starboard side in Norway's Harstad harbour, leaving two holes in the hull above the waterline (Pictures from Rex Features).
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And in the IN video the reporter states that the new Indian navy CV will be able to launch airstrikes 8000 nautical miles from home. Just how are they going to do that without full logistical support?.

Thanks for posting navyreco!
 
Jeff Head

Jeff Head

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bd popeye said:
The Living Legend the USS Enterprise CVN 65 sets sail on her final deployment..

"The Big E" slogan is "We are Legend"..

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sorry..no hi-res on this pic..


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The Big "E" is my next 1/350 scale model build when I finish the PLAN Carrier.

I have been buying up the modern aftermarket parts for her...sensors, mordern aircraft, etc, because whn I bought the Tamiya model in 1991, she had a completely different airwing. Initial F-18s, E-2s, A-7s, A-6s, and even some remaining F-4s. My build will be Superhornets, Hornets, Hawkeyes, Greyhounds, SH-60 helos, and EA-6B Prowlers. If they had the new EF-18 Grolwers I would add them, but no 1/350 scale of those available yet.

As always, remember this:

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