PLAN Aircraft Carrier programme...(Closed)

In the 052 documentary, the shipyard had tons of problems when building the ship, things like poor quality of the steel plates, welding issues, etc. Building a new carrier probably will have tons of issues that will delay the construction time as well.

vincent said:

In the 052 documentary, the shipyard had tons of problems when building the ship, things like poor quality of the steel plates, welding issues, etc. Building a new carrier probably will have tons of issues that will delay the construction time as well.

Click to expand...

For the original 052? That's 1980's, vastly different from today's China, which has one of the largest shipbuilding industry in the world.

shen said:

For the original 052? That's 1980's, vastly different from today's China, which has one of the largest shipbuilding industry in the world.

Click to expand...

But it's like what Jeff Head said it is China's first time building a complete aircraft carrier so it is generally going to be expected that it'll take a bit longer than say 002 and while I'm definitely not an expert in shipbuilding I would generally assume that building a destroyer and building an aircraft carrier will be different so the workers/builders will have somewhat of a learning curb.

newguy02 said:

But it's like what Jeff Head said it is China's first time building a complete aircraft carrier so it is generally going to be expected that it'll take a bit longer than say 002 and while I'm definitely not an expert in shipbuilding I would generally assume that building a destroyer and building an aircraft carrier will be different so the workers/builders will have somewhat of a learning curb.

Click to expand...

I'm on the fence at the moment about whether the pictures we see is the carrier under construction. only reply to the post about 052.

shen said:

For the original 052? That's 1980's, vastly different from today's China, which has one of the largest shipbuilding industry in the world.

Click to expand...

I'm not saying they are gonna experience the same issues. Everytime you do something new, you will encounter issues that delay the process

can anyone point out any sort of civilian cargo ship with hull lines such as visible in the image? here the hull starts narrowing towards the bow basically from mid point, length wise...

Jeff Head said:

This comparison has been shown before.

The general outline is similar...but you do not see those large vacancies in the middle of the carrier build. You do in the one shown below it. Those are much more common and expected in a commercial bulk carrier or tanker build.

As I say, to me it looks much more commercial. more so now than it did earlier when we noted that there was no reinforced/ double hull on the vessel.

But...time will tell.

Click to expand...

Hmmm , not exactly ! THIS particular comparison was made by me yesterday evening - similar to the one posted somewhere in June.

However my argument against a tanker of civil freighter is that:

- on these civil types, the ships' hull has more or less parallel sides ... in contrast to this one here.
- regarding those "large vacancies" are IMO simply not visible since this image again is very much PSed to hide some certain details.

Overall I agree with You, it's much too early to decide ... however if I had to bet goes I would at least by now decide against a civil type.

Deino

Deino said:

Hmmm , not exactly ! THIS particular comparison was made by me yesterday evening - similar to the one posted somewhere in June.

Click to expand...

Yes, that is the one I am talking about. Clearly the current picture could not have been posted earlier, but the upper picture has been used before to compare to this same ship at an earlier stage of construction.

That was my meaning.

Deino said:

However my argument against a tanker of civil freighter is that...

Overall I agree with You, it's much too early to decide ... however if I had to bet goes I would at least by now decide against a civil type.

Deino

Click to expand...

Commercial lines can and do have this look, but that certainly does not mean it has to be commercial.

The military also has need for cargo ships and tankers. But since the 903A vessels are well advanced, I do not think it is at all one of those.

Perhaps the PLAN is finally going to build some of the really large auxiliary ships like the US does, like the Lewis and Clark class or something like that?

I guess my own feeling at this point is best made by saying that I am more and more of the opinion that it is not a carrier.

As I told Bltizo, I am not completely ruling it out yet...just more and more of the opinion it is probably not.

newguy02 said:

But it's like what Jeff Head said it is China's first time building a complete aircraft carrier so it is generally going to be expected that it'll take a bit longer than say 002 and while I'm definitely not an expert in shipbuilding I would generally assume that building a destroyer and building an aircraft carrier will be different so the workers/builders will have somewhat of a learning curb.

Click to expand...

Welding the hull is not an issue. It basically the same with any other ships military or otherwise.
Designing the ship within a certain envelop with the right weight distribution is the hard part.
Super carriers are inherently top heavy making it easy to capsize if not designed properly. You don't want to load her with a lot of ballast as counter balance either.

The hull shape is very interesting. The fastest large commercial ships are container vessels and I hope it isn't one of those because there is rather a glut of those at this time. Even these have not as fine an entrance as this ship.
When comparing a Chinese aircraft carrier building now with a US one built around 1970 we have to account for a huge advance in shipbuilding technology.
So I'm very clear in my mind about this ship: I don't know.