Chinas New Carrier.

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Has anyone else seen this, I was sent these pics in an email a few weeks ago, there was a lot of detailed discription with it but I cannot find a way to post the email directly on to here. What the pics show is Chinas new aircraft carrier design that is already at the metal cutting stage by all accounts! The twin hull design not only gives the ship superb stability but its sheer size means it can handle even large aircraft without a problem. Such a ship would drastically alter the balance of power in the pacific rim countries and would enable China to project power wherever she wanted to. When or if this thing ever takes to the waves in service then it will make all existing carriers obsolete in one go! Personally, I love it!....

Thanks for viewing

[hurricanemk1c 195]

For those photos, they are proposing to operate Il-78's off the carrier! That'll be some feat!

[pacinka 0]

A floating airport. Nice!

[ddavid 149]

Here it is on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WmTyngJN9dM

Nice find, Al' - makes you think, eh?!?

Cheers - Dai.

[allardjd 1,853]

Finally the island really will be an island.

As the Fast Attack skippers are fond of saying, there are only two kinds of ships, attack subs and targets.

John.

[jaydor 345]

Does that mean if you torpedo the one hull, only half the ship sinks?

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

I would imagine that with todays technology all manner of anti submarine and anti torpedo defences will be fitted to this ship, Also catamaran hulls are generally a lot faster than monohulls meaning that submarine commanders would have a job catching them. It may be a floating island but you can bet that the air around it would be anything but freindly in the heat of battle.

[allardjd 1,853]

Generally anti-submarine measures are on the escorts, not the carriers. China has little experience in such things and this thing, if built will probably not represent state-of-the-art in that regard. Nuclear Fast Attack subs are very fast and very stealthy - both at once if the water is deep enough. Mark 48 ADCAP wire-guided torpedoes can generally get the job done at quite a long distance. Typically they are detonated below the target, breaking its back - high tech anti-torpedo measures don't do much good against that. The hull is still a steel structure and is easily compromised by that kind of explosion. Direct impact by the torpedo is no longer the best way.

Additionally, attack subs can launch Harpoon missiles while submerged. Remember the Exocets in the Falklands - Harpoons are similar, but bigger and smarter. Unless the escorts are in the right place, with the right kind of defensive weapons and are on the ball, the carrier is toast. It may not sink, but as long as it is rendered incapable of performing its mission it is essentially defeated.

The US protects its carriers with approximately 8-10 escorts (including, normally, two fast attack submarines in the "roving" anti-sub role). The Aegis cruisers have the capabiltiy to data-link all the weapons systems in the entire group. The Aegis system integrates and controls all the weapons in the group as if they were on a single platform, allocating targets to the platform and weapon that is best located and best suited to engage each detected threat. It's pretty sophisticated and has been in use for long enough that most of the wrinkles have long since been worked out.

ASW search operations are performed by the sonar on the escorts, some of which also have ASW helicopter assets with dipping sonar, sonobouys and even magnetic anomaly detection capability. The fast attack subs attached to the group are also major players in the ASW role. The latter have towed sonar arrays that can detect acid reflux in individual sardines at tens of kilometers - well, almost.

Chinese military capability is certainly something for the US and other western powers to keep a close eye on but they have a ways to go yet before they are on the top of the heap.

John

[allardjd 1,853]

It may be a floating island...

Alan,

My island comment wasn't a reference to the size of the ship. I meant that it was now in the center of the deck instead of pushed against one edge as in conventional carrier layouts.

John