Aircraft Carriers III

TerraN_EmpirE said:

Probably 6.

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The U.S. Senate Armed Service Committee (SASC) is inserting language in its markup of the fiscal year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would mandate that the U.S. Navy study a preliminary design for a new light carrier.

The new ships would not replace the Gerald R. Ford-class (CVN-78) supercarriers, but rather if the new ships were built, they would be used to disperse naval aviation assets across a larger geographical area to help support amphibious ready groups and the like.

“Authorizes $30 million for preliminary design of a smaller aircraft carrier, which is in addition to the administration's request,” reads the summary of the SASC version of NDAA.

Senate aides told reporters during a background brief on June 29 that the reason they inserted the language was because they are seeking information on different carrier types. Several naval force structure studies commissioned by the Navy have shown that there is a need for a light carrier to complement the service’s massive nuclear-powered supercarriers.

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There is also a RAND Corporation study that calls for such a vessel, the aide said, however that report is classified. The Senate is trying to have the RAND study declassified and released publicly.

The Senate aide said that the studies have indicated that a light carrier in the 60,000-ton to 70,000-ton range—roughly the size of an old Forrestal-class or Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier—would be the “sweet spot” for such a ship.

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The Senate staffers are clear that the proposed new ships are not intended to challenge the primacy of the Ford-class. Indeed, the Senate bill speeds up the procurement of the CVN-78-class to every four years rather than every five years.

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TerraN_EmpirE said:

All I know for sure is that they protected 2000 Sqm of the 19,000 Sqm deck.

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TerraN_EmpirE said:

Anyway there is some other news of interests.

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...

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Jura said:

the part of USNI News

Navy to Start a Preliminary Design Effort for a Light Carrier, Pluses Up Shipbuilding Totals Over Trump Budget

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related to carrier:
"Among one of the largest departures for the SASC, their bill sets aside $30 million for the Navy for a preliminary design effort to create a light carrier for the service.

McCain has been a constant and consistent critic of the Ford-class carrier program and for years has called for an alternative look to the $13-billion price tag for the next-generation hulls. Included in the series of studies the committee asks the Navy to undertake is the question of light carriers’ ability to distribute aviation assets throughout a battlespace.

The most likely scenario would be a modified version of the America-class big-deck amphib that would add two catapults to launch aircraft, similar to World War II-era straight-deck escort carriers. The idea would be to give deployed amphibious ready groups greater ability to field a wider variety of logistics and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft that would give the groups a better ability to project power, Bryan Clark,

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. The Navy has said it has been looking at alternatives to the larger 100,000-ton carriers but a serious public study has not emerged.

While the SASC mark added more ships and aircraft, it also trimmed from other programs. The language wants the Navy to hold the third Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier – Enterprise (CVN-80) – at a cost cap of $12 billion, claws back $100 million in funding from the three-ship Zumwalt-class (DDG-1000), and cuts $225 million in funding for the Arleigh Burke-class (DDG-51) line, which USNI News understands was tied to FY 2016 funding for the first Flight III destroyer that has yet to be spent."

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I can understand why Ian Jack is impressed by the scale of the achievement of Britain’s new aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth (

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, 1 July). But why not show some imagination and turn it (and her sister ship) into something really useful? It would make a wonderful emergency rescue vehicle, equipped to respond to disasters – natural and manmade – worldwide. Helicopters, heavy lifting gear, even a hospital, would surely make a far better contribution to combatting “multiple and changing threats across the globe” than more killing machines such as F35 fighter-bombers. It would also need a flotilla of smaller support vessels, eg, landing craft, which would provide huge numbers of jobs for many years. I commend the idea to Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party’s policymakers.

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Jura said:

with this level of certainty, it should be easy for you to post the link, which is:

... which I heard Thursday at 7:48 AM

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