Pointblank
Senior Member
Re: Ideal chinese carrier thread
The problem then becomes endurance; you have a much smaller magazine and fuel load compared to a equivalent carrier of the same displacement. Those engines will drink fuel at a prodigious rate, meaning frequent refueling. Furthermore, sortie rates will decrease as there is less ammunition to go around all of the airplanes. Large air wings aren't all that useful if they can't maintain an effective sortie rate.
Aluminum is still not a material I would build warships out of; HMS Amazon had a major fire in 1977, and the aluminum superstructure was faulted as being a hindrance to firefighting as the superstructure melted and buckled under the heat of the fire, which made the ladders useless. Furthermore, the USS Belknap had a fire in 1975 after a collision with the USS John F. Kennedy. The fire was so severe on Belknap that the entire superstructure, which was made of aluminum, was melted, burned and gutted to the deck level. This is a picture of her after that fire:
After all of these incidents, plus the experiences of the Falkland Wars, many navies made efforts to reduce the amount of combustibles used in the construction of ships, Aluminum, plastic and fibreglass burns or melts readily in the types of fires found on ships.
The problem then becomes endurance; you have a much smaller magazine and fuel load compared to a equivalent carrier of the same displacement. Those engines will drink fuel at a prodigious rate, meaning frequent refueling. Furthermore, sortie rates will decrease as there is less ammunition to go around all of the airplanes. Large air wings aren't all that useful if they can't maintain an effective sortie rate.
Aluminum is still not a material I would build warships out of; HMS Amazon had a major fire in 1977, and the aluminum superstructure was faulted as being a hindrance to firefighting as the superstructure melted and buckled under the heat of the fire, which made the ladders useless. Furthermore, the USS Belknap had a fire in 1975 after a collision with the USS John F. Kennedy. The fire was so severe on Belknap that the entire superstructure, which was made of aluminum, was melted, burned and gutted to the deck level. This is a picture of her after that fire:
After all of these incidents, plus the experiences of the Falkland Wars, many navies made efforts to reduce the amount of combustibles used in the construction of ships, Aluminum, plastic and fibreglass burns or melts readily in the types of fires found on ships.
ffThat's very insulting and off topic. Have you ever served a single day in the USN? If so you would know all the steps and measures that the USN has taken in fire prevention. Most of the USN lessons about aluminum came from the 1987 Iraqi attack on the USS Stark FFG-31.