Nice catch! Now we need a view of other side.
CV-18 Fujian/003 CATOBAR carrier thread
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
I’m not good at eyeballing the size of it, but can the elevator length be judged from this? If so, could it fit 2 J-15s?
And clearly we see the beginning of the catapults here on the bottom left corner
Are the white squares next to it the weapon elevators?
It's tough alright. The gantry cranes are your best points for orientation. The two smaller ones cover the drydock area adjacent to where Type 003 is being build. The larger one is part of that dock, and in previous images was sitting right on top of the Type 055 behind Type 003. Admittedly there is so much clutter in construction here I have a hard time making out the carrier myself.
So, some observations. ...
Left is 003, middle is 003, rightmost carrier is kitty hawk.
The angle of the runway on 003 seems to be very close to that of the 002. While there is a slight difference on the drawing, in reality there may be no difference, due to imprecise measurement.
However, the difference between 003 and KH is so big that I doubt errors can be that big. It's likely that 003 will simply have runway that's less angled than KH or US carriers in general.
Yellow circles represent two points of interest. One seems to be a slight ledge on the port side. Such a protrusion is not visible on 002 but sometimes similar to it can be observed on some US carriers. It's possible the wait catapult will be positioned there.
Also, if positioned there, then the whole runway will be longer, basically as long as KH one, as it has to have enough length to support
the catapult length from the yellow circle to the edge of the runway.
The other yellow circle marks two holes for what seem to be weapons elevators. If the design is anything similar to 002, then the hangar should also stop right below those weapons elevators. Which would likely make it only slightly longer than the hangar on 002. Just how much longer is hard to tell. But possibly less than 10 meters longer.
Hangar width can't be assessed from these images, and the blue squares drawn on ships are NOT there to represent hangar width.
But from some of the earlier images, I remember hangar wall width seemed to be under 30 meters. So a bit wider than 002, but certainly still closer to 002 hangar width than to US carrier hangar widths.
Finally, the most recent images showing the rear elevator shows two things. When i sized everything up, the opening to the rest of the carrier - i got a measurement suggesting the width of the elevator opening is more or less exactly as wide as on one 002. If it is wider, than it's perhaps by a meter, not more. (these short red lines DO NOT represent hangar opening widths)
The short red lines represent general position of the rear elevator. Which seems to be exactly in the same spot as on 002. Given the limited placement options for the forward elevator, due to catapult launch stations, it's also quite likely that the forward elevator will be positioned at the same spot as on 002 as well.
While none of that indicates likelihood of the possibility for the third, port side, elevator - I do believe port side elevator is unlikely. Not only because other elevator layout seems to be the same as 002, which lacks port side elevators, but the position of the port side elevator would have to be quite at the back. Starting perhaps right below the last visible sponson. As seen with Kitty Hawk, such an elevator would usually be a bit more forward, before the ship's deck tapers towards the stern.
Left is 003, middle is 003, rightmost carrier is kitty hawk.
The angle of the runway on 003 seems to be very close to that of the 002. While there is a slight difference on the drawing, in reality there may be no difference, due to imprecise measurement.
However, the difference between 003 and KH is so big that I doubt errors can be that big. It's likely that 003 will simply have runway that's less angled than KH or US carriers in general.
Yellow circles represent two points of interest. One seems to be a slight ledge on the port side. Such a protrusion is not visible on 002 but sometimes similar to it can be observed on some US carriers. It's possible the wait catapult will be positioned there.
Also, if positioned there, then the whole runway will be longer, basically as long as KH one, as it has to have enough length to support
the catapult length from the yellow circle to the edge of the runway.
The other yellow circle marks two holes for what seem to be weapons elevators. If the design is anything similar to 002, then the hangar should also stop right below those weapons elevators. Which would likely make it only slightly longer than the hangar on 002. Just how much longer is hard to tell. But possibly less than 10 meters longer.
Hangar width can't be assessed from these images, and the blue squares drawn on ships are NOT there to represent hangar width.
But from some of the earlier images, I remember hangar wall width seemed to be under 30 meters. So a bit wider than 002, but certainly still closer to 002 hangar width than to US carrier hangar widths.
Finally, the most recent images showing the rear elevator shows two things. When i sized everything up, the opening to the rest of the carrier - i got a measurement suggesting the width of the elevator opening is more or less exactly as wide as on one 002. If it is wider, than it's perhaps by a meter, not more. (these short red lines DO NOT represent hangar opening widths)
The short red lines represent general position of the rear elevator. Which seems to be exactly in the same spot as on 002. Given the limited placement options for the forward elevator, due to catapult launch stations, it's also quite likely that the forward elevator will be positioned at the same spot as on 002 as well.
While none of that indicates likelihood of the possibility for the third, port side, elevator - I do believe port side elevator is unlikely. Not only because other elevator layout seems to be the same as 002, which lacks port side elevators, but the position of the port side elevator would have to be quite at the back. Starting perhaps right below the last visible sponson. As seen with Kitty Hawk, such an elevator would usually be a bit more forward, before the ship's deck tapers towards the stern.
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Yeah! This picture come from a China Forum, 24m (20.9/cos30°) is the final size. Big enough for 2 J-15S. Maybe not accuracy, but I think there's not too much deviation.
