Aircraft Carriers

[GTX]

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Super_Hornets_For_India_With_A_Carrier_On_The_Side_999.html

I remember that one - from what I recall, it never actaully happened or if the offer was made, it was rejected (possibly came with too many cavets).  That siad, I expect the SH to be a very strong candidate for India's new fighter program.

Regards,

Greg

[dy031101]

Found an US line drawing of a flightdeck oiler here.

The aviation facility was to be similar to that of a CVE but just a bit smaller.

A silly question from me: was such an oiler capable of underway replenishment for other warships or was it strictly meant to carry fuel and then deposit them into some shore-based facility?

Thanks in advance.

[Jschmus]

I believe that such a ship would have been used for underway replenishment.  The USN perfected the practice during the 1930s and used it extensively during the Pacific campaigns.  I'm not sure how you ran down this "Spring Styles Book #3", but it's got some interesting proposals, like the Iowa and Alaska-class carriers and the flight deck cruiser.

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/albums/s511-cv.htm

[Thorvic]

Think thats the drawings for the Sangamon class escort carriers which did act as both escort carrier and oiler on occasions

[dy031101]

Someone posted a link to a what-if carrier, USS Tun Tavern.

The medium bombers on its deck and elevators reminds me of the Doolittle Raid.

Wikipedia states that B-18, B-23, B-25, and B-26 were considered for the Raid.

B-18 and B-23 are too large, and B-26 have "questionable" takeoff performance.

So I am wondering...... was the B-26's performance questionable because the Raid was to be launched from the Hornet?  Would a larger carrier (like something as large as Saratoga; or like sequoiaranger's idea of converting USS Lafayette into a carrier?) have made the B-26 suitable or allowed the number of modifications required by B-25 operations to be reduced?

[rickshaw]

People may find this of some interest WRT the PLAN and aircraft carriers:


It is a model of the "new Chinese aircraft carrier" which was recently unveiled in a Hong Kong naval exhibition.

The full report (with appalling badly auto-translated English) can be read here: http://wuxinghongqi.blogspot.com/2009/07/chinas-aircraft-carrier-model-unveiled.html

[Jschmus]

People may find this of some interest WRT the PLAN and aircraft carriers:


It is a model of the "new Chinese aircraft carrier" which was recently unveiled in a Hong Kong naval exhibition.

The full report (with appalling badly auto-translated English) can be read here: http://wuxinghongqi.blogspot.com/2009/07/chinas-aircraft-carrier-model-unveiled.html

That looks an awful lot like the Varyag.

[Sauragnmon]

I would imagine so, considering the Shi Lang will be essentially Varyag, but the Russians won't supply electronics or weapons fit, so at the very least, that part has to be built up by the PLAN domestically.  I'd likely imagine the Type 730 CIWS, the plates as seen on the 052C's... and other similar PLAN equipment.

[dy031101]

That looks an awful lot like the Varyag.

Not having access to things like catapult, the PLAN is bound to use the Varyag as a template.

And once again, I don't think the new carrier would be named after Shi Lang when Chinese historians haven't even figured out whether to call him a man instrumental to unification or a turncoat......

[rickshaw]

That looks an awful lot like the Varyag.

My boy, how long do you want to spend in the re-education camps?  With an attitude like that, you won't be doing much else in the Brave New World which is fast approaching!   

[dy031101]

While I understand that Yak-38 would be surpassed royally by Harrier...... I still couldn't help to wonder if the PLAN would want to try one despite the Sino-Soviet Split and before ties to the West were warmed up......

Maybe copied from captured or wrecked examples and spawned some Chinese variants?

My boy, how long do you want to spend in the re-education camps?  With an attitude like that, you won't be doing much else in the Brave New World which is fast approaching!  

Sounds like I'm butting in, but innovation without imitation is a waste of time.  

[dy031101]

This is spawned from the A-4 Skyhawk thread...... I re-worded a bit to make the scenario I had in mind a bit more clear.

It's the 70s, the CVA-01 was axed, the perfectly good Eagle was cannibalized, the Ark Royal was getting worn-out, but what if the British government did not try to compel the Royal Navy into abandoning aircraft carriers for good, telling them just that proper replacement for the Ark Royal would be too big to be affordable?

Would the companion escort helicopter cruiser design still have evolved into a STOVL carrier, or would the Royal Navy have actually contemplated putting angled flight deck and catapults to produce a class of light CATOBAR fleet carriers?

(The more I think about it, the more I feel what I could come up in my head to be pretty much like a scaled-down CVA-01 to the size just a bit larger than the Centaurs......)

How would it have influenced the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy as well as that of the Indian Navy, who in real-life has operated British-made aircraft?

[Joe C-P]

That looks an awful lot like the Varyag.

Not having access to things like catapult, the PLAN is bound to use the Varyag as a template.

And once again, I don't think the new carrier would be named after Shi Lang when Chinese historians haven't even figured out whether to call him a man instrumental to unification or a turncoat......

The PLAN has catapults from the scrapped HMAS Melbourne.

That model is just the right size for a Trumpeter 1/350 Varyag.

[dy031101]

The PLAN has catapults from the scrapped HMAS Melbourne.

Doesn't mean they have bothered reverse-engineering it and then improving it to the level capable of propelling a J-11 into the sky.

[rickshaw]

Lots of myths around the scrapping of Melbourne.  Claims were made that the Chinese rather cheekily asked for a copy of the catapults operating manual.  However, this occurred supposedly long after they'd actually been melted down.   I'd also question whether they would be of much use.   I understand they had certain important parts missing when they left Garden Island on that final voyage to China.