PLAN Carrier Strike Group and Airwing

Re: Aircraft Carriers II

Off top of my head I think one of these ships carried around 20 Harriers during 2003 invasion of Iraq, after this the high command found that these flat tops could provide decent air cover, as result the two air centric Ameirca Class LHD was suggested which did materialise

Using one of these ships exclusively for fighter aircraft turned out be success and was looked upon favourablely by the navy

If you think about it, a America Class can essentially free up a super carrier if it can provide its own air cover, in some circumstances this can lead to a big advantage and allow a super carrier to focus on what it does best

Re: Aircraft Carriers II

Here it is found a picture USS Bataan I count 19-20 carriers

Re: PLAN Carrier Construction

Skywatcher said:

Though if the module has been sitting there since March (I'm presuming that the photo was taken recently), why would the PLAN let it just sit there instead of moving it to a military facility for evaluation?

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Perhaps it is being inspected, might be still under construction, or perhaps they are testing it at its place? The thing is 1.5 times smaller than it should be in order to be a real module for such a vessel.

Re: PLAN Carrier Construction

It has a beam of 51+ meters. Add on the flight deck and you have yourself a decent sized carrier. That's not even factoring in the idea that the module may not be at the widest point of the hull either.

And what would be the use of a mock up which is a fraction of the size of the real thing? It's not like they could train people in it, and they have CAD to design to walk themselves through the intricate details of fabrication.

Re: PLAN Carrier Construction

51m that's massive!

The Queen Elizabeth is 40m at its narrowest and 70m at the widest, Mistral Class is like 30m and Wasp Class more than 30m

The numbers make perfect sense as we don't actually know which part exactly this module fits into to

Re: PLAN Carrier Construction

SinoSoldier said:

Perhaps it is being inspected, might be still under construction, or perhaps they are testing it at its place? The thing is 1.5 times smaller than it should be in order to be a real module for such a vessel.

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And if it is a module, then why add on the catapult trench?

And building a module wouldn't satisfy the PLAN that you can build a carrier. The PLAN already knows that Jiangnan can build large modules (after all, look at all the work Jiangnan has done in large civilian ships and warships, the hard part comes from connecting all those modules together, installing machinery and making sure it doesn't fall apart once it leaves the drydock).

And testing in place in a civilian yard doesn't allow you easy access to PLAN facilities and the controlled environment there in.

Speaking of modules, didn't various parts of the Queen Elizabeth get built in different yards before being assembled in Scotland?

Re: PLAN Carrier Construction

Skywatcher said:

And if it is a module, then why add on the catapult trench?

And building a module wouldn't satisfy the PLAN that you can build a carrier. The PLAN already knows that Jiangnan can build large modules (after all, look at all the work Jiangnan has done in large civilian ships and warships, the hard part comes from connecting all those modules together, installing machinery and making sure it doesn't fall apart once it leaves the drydock).

And testing in place in a civilian yard doesn't allow you easy access to PLAN facilities and the controlled environment there in.

Speaking of modules, didn't various parts of the Queen Elizabeth get built in different yards before being assembled in Scotland?

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Yes 7 shipyards with final assembly at Rosyth

I think it was probably more difficult to refit the ex-varyag with its inherit design flaws than it probably was to build a completely new one from scratch

If they can do that then I think they can sure as hell build one from scratch

Re: PLAN Carrier Construction

Skywatcher said:

Speaking of modules, didn't various parts of the Queen Elizabeth get built in different yards before being assembled in Scotland?

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Yep, I posted these a few days ago, comparing the CVF vs this module




Eerie similarities





Although it's difficult to properly compare size. But I think we're all in agreement this module looks disconcertingly carrier like.

I'd always thought that if the PLAN would build a carrier they should do it modular, like the UK are with CVF. Most efficient, and also it makes it harder for us to identify the carrier once it's almost nearly done, meaning less time for foreign competitors to react.

Re: PLAN Carrier Construction

Bltizo said:

It is in shanghai I think. And there is only one module, the aerial pic of JNCX with the supposed carrier nearly complete is an optical illusion it seems

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Or a clever ps using the existing module at the front.

Re: PLAN Carrier Construction

It's simply too early to tell if a flattop is actually under construction right now.

I'd rather wait for the sections got put together into something more ship-shaped then make the call.