CV-18 Fujian/003 CATOBAR carrier thread

Iron Man said:

You want an angled flight deck?! Here you go:
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The sheer size of this thing combined with the telltale angle of the stern and how the forward port side characteristically sticks out to accommodate the angled deck means this is a carrier mockup, not an LHA/LHD mockup.

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I think you're right on.. that looks more like a carrier than LHA etc. your visual of the angled deck is spot on. That very large rectangular building on the port side is not part of the actual vessel mock up. It's just a building they build on top of the deck.

If the dummy helos are actual size which no reason to think it isn't, that is definitely the size of a carrier.

I don't like to presume anything nor count my chickens b4 they hatch however we could very well be seeing an early mockup of CV 18.



That's the potrusion to accommodate the angle deck and for cat 4. An LHA/LHD etc woudn't have that. I know a carrier when I see one. Another tell tale sign is the edge of both forward and aft. An LHA etc is almost perfectly square or parallel to each other but you can see here the front edge is not at the same angle as the stern. The stern is biased towards an angle deck just like any carrier.

kwaigonegin said:

I don't like to presume anything nor count my chickens b4 they hatch however we could very well be seeing an early mockup of CV 18.

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It is definitely a mockup of some kind of aircraft carrier. Might as well be the CV-18, because what else would it be?

The unfortunately long length of the island suggests to me that CV-18 is still going to be conventionally powered, more's the pity.

Here's another one with outlines (and how I think the forward sponsons will be arranged):



It would be nice to know where this mockup is so we could measure its dimensions....

damitch300 said:

Does anyone know the length?
Maybe PLAN goes for medium sized carriers instead of LHD for support.
And how weird will it be if it has an well deck? Haha
And then add larger carriers for the larger forces

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This is at least the size of the Liaoning, possibly larger.

Iron Man said:

It is definitely a mockup of some kind of aircraft carrier. Might as well be the CV-18, because what else would it be?

The unfortunately long length of the island suggests to me that CV-18 is still going to be conventionally powered, more's the pity.

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You did a much better job of outlining than me but I drew by rough hand lol .. Anyway I'm not too surprised about the lack of nuke plants.. I was not one to think that PLAN's first indigenous carrier has to be a CVN. Always thought it would be CV.

Anyway based on what I know, my projection is PLAN will bypass Nimitz class IMHO from a transitional standpoint. They would build a couple/three of Kitty Hawk class size (CV 18) carriers and then leapfrog to Ford class type CVN in about 20-25 or so yrs etc.

They would speed up and then maintain a 4-5 carrier Navy for the forseeable future. When the first CVN hits the water Liaoning will be close to decomm by then.

Aircraft carriers are HUGE capital investments not to mention operational maintenance and forming CSGs. You plan for them decades in advance even more so for PLAN since they play the long game!
The 055 cruisers they are building soon is not by accident. They will complement the CSGs real well along with the 052Ds.

I no not see CV016 and CV001A haven't really long life spans.. certainly not CV16. They will be replaced by these new supercarriers as they come online.

Liaoing and CV001 to me is more of a stop gap measure.. more of a transtiional type carrier/training, while still projecting usable air power as PLAN transitions quickly from a brown-green to a true blue water navy with full organic air power as part of their overall Naval expansion and future power projection.

Almost sure CV 18 come after but are we in the good thread ...

kwaigonegin said:

You did a much better job of outlining than me but I drew by rough hand lol .. Anyway I'm not too surprised about the lack of nuke plants.. I was not one to think that PLAN's first indigenous carrier has to be a CVN. Always thought it would be CV.

Anyway based on what I know, my projection is PLAN will bypass Nimitz class IMHO from a transitional standpoint. They would build a couple/three of Kitty Hawk class size (CV 18) carriers and then leapfrog to Ford class type CVN in about 20-25 or so yrs etc.

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I doubt this mockup is for the CV-17/001A, since it is probably very similar in layout to the Liaoning. So we are really talking about a mockup for CV-18. I am very interested to see how it differs from the first two carriers. Its size and layout will give us a good clue about how fast the PLAN intends to proceed with ramping up the displacement of future carriers. We can already see that the flight deck of this mockup is somewhat different from the Liaoning and presumably CV-17.

kwaigonegin said:

They would speed up and then maintain a 4-5 carrier Navy for the forseeable future. When the first CVN hits the water Liaoning will be close to decomm by then.

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Nah, I think it will be more like 6-7, maybe even 8. 4-5 will get you somewhat less than 2 carriers on station at all times. If you only want 1 carrier up at all times, might as well just stick with 3-4 total. I think the trajectory of China's carrier and naval development suggests a more ambitious goal.

Deino said:

To admit I don't even know the exact position of this mock-up ... the Liaoning is/was here:

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Deino

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You will have to find a pond of water oriented the way you see it in that pic, with the road around the carrier, and the causeway there.

But Wuhan is, all together a HUGE facility.

I will roam around on it tonight and see if I can find it.

Depends as well on when the Google Map was taken and when this thing was created.

Deino said:

Spotted at the Wuhan test site:
Hmmm

IMO not CV-18/Type 002-related. Looks more like a large LHD, but with an angled deck ??!!

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Deino, I am not seeing the first two pictures. They are gifs and I od not know if that I the reason, or maybe it is because it is from a site I do not have an account on.

Can you get those first two images onto your computer and post them here on SD?

Can anyone measure the helicopter on the deck and then use it for the length and width of the mockup??

Not without a higher-resolution photo. It looks like a Z-8/18 based on the shadow, but it could easily be another type. It's just too blurry.