PLAN container ship thread

[Temstar]

That’s certainly one possible application of this, but that does not mean it’s the only or even the primary application.

For this to be applicable in a post-apocalyptic world, you will need to have a significant quantity of these container modules already built and in secure, survivable storage to have any to haul out to build a scratch navy with.

But if China already has these built and in storage, there is nothing stopping them from taking them out for use now or in the near future, or to just massively ramp up production for current day usage.

Armed merchants don’t need to be able to go toe-to-toe with opfor naval warships to be useful, especially in China’s case where it has a massive and powerful standard navy. The armed merchants could easily act as arsenal ships and extended magazines for the PLAN’s existing fleets. The self defence capabilities are just to make sure they can deal with the odd leaker and can take care of themselves somewhat to not become a liability which would require significant PLAN assets to babysit and safeguard when in use.

Here Ayi and Xi Yazhou talking about the post-apocalyptic aspect:

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As you pointed out and they also spoke about in this video, as elements from this project becomes reality such as the EMCAT trucks, the post-apocalyptic origins of the project is becoming de-emphasised while people figure out more mundane uses for things that this project comes up with.

 

[AndrewS]

Ships can be burnt to the waterline too, you know. One or two ASMs would likely be able to do it with onboard fuel and combustibles if its on the smaller side.

The point is that a larger container ship (with only ~25 weapons containers) is mostly empty space.

So there aren't that many combustibles. Plus the fuel tanks are at the bottom or sides of the ship.

 

[AndrewS]

The reason it's mounted on a container ship is to push the defense line outwards from the coast. Jiangnan Shipyard will always be confined to the coast; container VLS trucks will never be able to escape the limitations of land. Look at what's happening in Russia right now, right? Faced with the potential damage from hundreds, even thousands of LRASMs, the cost of container ships is negligible compared to that.

Just think back to what slogans were on the containers. The Chinese nation must, and is, stepping out of its cradle on land. Until the PLAN is strong enough, this is a reasonable defensive tool that can alleviate pressure.

If you look at Jiangnan Shipyard, there is about 30km of land depth.
So land-based SAM launchers can effectively cover Jiangnan, and you wouldn't want SAMs further out, as they may be caught out of position.

Carrier groups operate distant AAW picket ships, because their primary job is to catch ISR aircraft who are trying to locate the carrier. But there won't be any incoming ISR aircraft for a fixed target on land like a shipyard.