Aircraft Carriers

Jeff sez;

Great choice, the Forrestal was 1st of class and a very good carrier. With the tender loving care they can give her there in Japan yards, she could have a lot of years of service left in her. Too bad they sunk the America, she would have been a great choice too.

Click to expand...

The Forrestal had few engineering casualties during her 41 years of service. She still hold the record for consecutive days at sea by a conventional powered CV. One hundred eight days. That's three and a half months. I was once underway on the America for 78 days between ports...The America biggest problem that it's longest re-fit in it's history was 13 months. It never had a major multi-year overhaul. Also in America's short(31 years) but illustorous history she made 21 major deployments.

You may want to add 4 EA-18G Growlers for EW.

Click to expand...

In my secerniro I cannot chose the Growler. But Japan may be the only nation the US would sell that plane to. Japan may rely on shore based assest for that mission.

Sorry for the double post..but I thought this would intrest CV efficanados

On July 29,1967 the Forrestal suffered a major fire caused by an ordance accident off the coast of South Vietnam. 134 US sailors were killed. The damage was so severe the Forrestal returned to NS Subic Bay ,R. of the Philippines. Then after a short stay the ship returned to Norfolk Naval shipyard for a major overhaul.



Forrestal fire pictures;

bd popeye said:

Indianfighter. Thanks for posting that history of IN CV development. Excellent article. I think that the true test of the IN will come when the first ADS is ready to put to sea. Because the IN has experience operating CV's they should have a smooth transition to their ADS ship.

Click to expand...

You are welcome Mr. bd popeye. It was indeed my pleasure. I hope that in your quest for the design of an ideal aircraft-carrier, the naval LCA is also considered by you {not necessarily chosen}.

Indianfighter said:

You are welcome Mr. bd popeye. It was indeed my pleasure. I hope that in your quest for the design of an ideal aircraft-carrier, the naval LCA is also considered by you {not necessarily chosen}.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your comments IndianFighter! The quest for the perfect CV..hummm.

This is the best deck layout. I chose this because of my experience in the USN. # elevators is enough.



My ideal airwing for a full fledged CVN;
48 Super hornets for attack/airdefense
12 Tomcats for air defense
4 E-2C Hawkeys for AEW
6 E/F-18G Growlers for ECM
6 SH-60R Seahawk ASW
2 V-22A Osprey logistics and heavy lift
4 S-3B Vikings for tankers

That's 82 aircraft for those of you mathmatically challanged. 82 aircraft? Yes. While onboard CV-66 in '81 we had the following airwing onboard;
24 Tomcats
24 A-7E Corsairs
15 A-6E Intruders
10 S-3A Vikings
6 SH-60 Seahawks
4 E/A-6B Prowlers
4 E-2 Hawkeyes
2 C-2 Greyhounds(Logistics)
= 89 aircraft

I will give thought later for a smaller air wing. Probally for attack and asw missions.

Hi Popeye.

IMO the US is the only country that can afford to feed a fleet of supercarriers.

How would you design a smaller, more affordable, but still capable carrier option for countries like S. Korea, Brazil, or Argentina?

To balance the supply chain, F-35B should not be the only fixed-wing option. Preferably, the carrier should be capable of operating the MiG-29K or Su-33, as well as NATO aircraft.

adeptitus said:

Hi Popeye.

IMO the US is the only country that can afford to feed a fleet of supercarriers.

How would you design a smaller, more affordable, but still capable carrier option for countries like S. Korea, Brazil, or Argentina?

To balance the supply chain, F-35B should not be the only fixed-wing option. Preferably, the carrier should be capable of operating the MiG-29K or Su-33, as well as NATO aircraft.

Click to expand...

I agree. Face it guys. Thats the truth. But there is no reason tha other nations could not feild one or two CV's.

Let's see..

Popeyes "Pocket CV"

To start with I like the India Navy design of the new "Vikrant". I would like one more aircraft lift on the port aft side however.



The ship should be no more than 30,000 tons dis.
Lenght 225meters X width 60meters(Flight deck)
Hangar deck 160meters lenght X 28meters width x 7.6meters height
Ski ramp..catapults are not easy task to operate if you are unexperienced.
two starboard lifts one aft port lift
Air wing;
20 F-35B JSF attack & air cover
12 H101 Merlin varaints AEW/ASW/SAR
4 V-22A Osprey logistics and heavy lift

Just my idea.

Hi Popeye,

Actually I was thinking of something even lighter, like the ex-Majestic-class light fleet carrier that was refitted for jets -- the Canadian HMCS Bonaventure:



And the Australian HMAS Melbourne:



The refitted tonnage is approx. 16,000 tonnes empty and 20,000 tonnes fully loaded. They were capable of operating the S-2T ASW aircraft and A-4 skyhawks.

Would something that size be capable of operating MiG-29K? Su-33? Rafale-M? E-2 Hawkeye? There's also the Indian LCA option, should the Naval version be made avail for export. The smaller carriers are known to operate A-4 Skyhawks, and I think the LCA is about the same size.

As for aircraft range, I think most smaller countries are only concerned with regional area, like Thailand. So their needs/requirements are very different from USN, RN, or French Navy.

As for aircraft range, I think most smaller countries are only concerned with regional area, like Thailand. So their needs/requirements are very different from USN, RN, or French Navy

Click to expand...

The size you suggested, 20,000 tons dis, is certainly large enough for most countries intrested in oly coastal defense. A CV that size would suit Japan very well.

As for aircraft I think the Mig-29 is the prefect size for this size ship. It is not as capable as a Su-33. But in this ships limited role of costal patrol it would be well suited. The Merlin variants are well suited for this task also.

Problem is this. The cost to operate and train a ship this size. Even a "pocket" carrier would eat up large amount of any nations defense budget.

Here is my littoral warfare carrier.

Approximately 15,000 to 20,000 tons (Principe Asturia size)
4 Rolling Airframe Missile Launchers
4 Evolve Sea Sparrow Missle Launchers

Room for 30 plus helos.
12 Apaches or Sea Cobras
4 OV-22 Osprey for utility
6 UH Seahawk Helo (Gunship, Seal Team transport, utility, attack)
4 AV-8B Harriers
Several UCAV's for surveilance
Side docks for up to four Littoral Combat Ships

Here's a pic of Super Cobras and Super Huey's on the USS Bon Homme Richard(LHD-6)..nice..On the USN website the photog mis-identified the aircraft. embarrasing!

On those Osprey's. They are large aircraft..On a smaller Cv they would take up a lot of space. I know when the USN had them on the Wasp for sea trails they had only 8. The Wasp class has a large flight deck.