CV-18 Fujian/003 CATOBAR carrier thread
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
Intrepid
Major
Basically you are right.
But the Chinese are developing their aircraft carrier forces very carefully and deliberately. And Type 003 is not the last draft, more designs will follow. So I can well imagine building a ship of some size, but equipping it with a relatively small air wing.
An air wing with different aircraft types and operational scenarios is complex enough for the next development step. A lot of space on board ensures a higher level of safety.
296 meters is quite a bit smaller than the Shandong. What am I missing here.
Intrepid
Major
Shandong has 270 meters in the waterline and 306 meters over all (the 315 meters you can read in the internet are wrong, same lenght than Kuznetsov and Liaoning), so Shandong is shorter than 003.
Actually, i think that it does matter. I think that the US prizes aircraft carriers a lot. Its a kind of national status. For example, an attack on the carriers is considered an attack on CONUS.
Not that i think that it will be longer, but if china was to make an aircraft carrier longer than any ship of the USN, even if it is conventional and with less displacement, there would be offended egos on the other side of the pacific. And more calls to make bigger ships and navy.
Would that make any difference to china if it happened, i dont think so.
Kitty hawk has 300 meters waterline and about 83000t displacement. The 296 meters length sort of matches the data that we have about the 003 being similar in size and displacement (around 80000t) to kitty hawk.
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Are internet estimates of launch for 2021 sounding a bit early
Assuming end of next year.