The United States is one of the earliest countries to develop aircraft carriers. After the accumulation of experience in Pacific War during the Second World Development period, and the frontier military existence strategy during the Cold War and the post-Cold War period, the U.S. Navy's modern aircraft carriers have reached the peak of theoretical development of aircraft carriers, both in terms of tonnage performance and design functions.
Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier
Izumo quasi-aircraft carrier
. Among them, Japan was in a slump after the Pacific War. Although the two aircraft carriers developed after the Cold War , the two aircraft carriers had a full load displacement of less than 30,000 tons, and their functional size was far from the US Navy's "Nimitz" class and "Ford" class . Although the British Navy has made great efforts to redevelop the 70,000-ton Queen Elizabethan class after entering the new century, due to cost factors, the catapult design was replaced by the sliding jump takeoff deck, making it difficult to have comprehensive combat capabilities, compared with the US Navy super aircraft carrier that adopts steam catapults and electromagnetic catapults.
US experts, China's new aircraft carrier will have combat capabilities as soon as 2025
US media reports
However, just when the whole world believes that the US Navy's super aircraft carrier is beyond its reach, the Chinese Navy's Fujian ship has been coming out after much anticipation. James Holmes, a former U.S. Navy officer and currently chairman of the U.S. Navy War Academy, posted on the 1945 media website that the Chinese Navy Fujian ship was launched last week and is expected to have combat capabilities as early as 2025 after several years of outfitting testing. James Holmes experts pointed out that the Fujian ship is not only larger than the Shandong ship improved based on the former Soviet aircraft carrier, with a tonnage of 80,000 to 100,000 tons, but also equipped with electromagnetic catapult devices. This means that the Chinese Navy shipyard and the Chinese Navy have achieved equality with the US Navy in all aspects such as aircraft carrier construction capabilities and aircraft carrier tonnage performance technology.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Based on the past 20 years, the US Navy itself has accumulated a large number of new technologies in Ford-class aircraft carriers, Zumwalt-class destroyer , and Free and Independence class littoral combat ships. The ultimate bold technology application has led to Ford-class being deeply involved in various subsystem problems, Zumwalt-class becoming an experimental ship. The failed experience of the free and Independence class combat ship being retired early. The American experts believe that the Fujian ship of the Chinese Navy may not be able to escape the "curse" of the implementation of the ship in the future.
Chinese 3 aircraft carrier
However, James Holmes also admitted that if the Fujian ship can eventually form combat power, it will be a milestone for the Chinese Navy to carry out military operations in the ocean. Because by then, the Chinese Navy will have three aircraft carriers, which can better rotate maintenance and deployment, and ensure at least one aircraft carrier throughout the year, which will prompt China to accelerate its move towards the ocean. Liaoning ship may also return to its identity as a training aircraft carrier after serving in the Fujian ship and perform full-time training of carrier-based aircraft aviation. As for the strategic significance of the Fujian ship after its service, James Holmes said that the Fujian ship will not become a changer in the rules of the game in the Western Pacific region. In the foreseeable future, the Fujian ship is expected to be bound by the first island chain .
is on par with the US Navy aircraft carrier. Is the Fujian ship worthy of its name?
Overall, the views of American expert James Holmes are still very objective. But is this really the case? At the launch ceremony of the Fujian ship, two important data about the Fujian ship were officially released. First, the displacement was more than 80,000 tons, and second, the electromagnetic catapult was adopted.When it comes to the US Navy's super aircraft carrier, the 100,000-ton displacement and 4 catapult tracks are basically iconic symbols. Compared with official data and known information, there seems to be a certain gap in the Fujian ship. However, China's low-key personality that dislikes ostentatiousness is well known internationally. The official claims that the Fujian ship has more than 80,000 tons, which is obviously a subtle word game. You should know that the standard displacement of the United States Nimitz-class is also around 77,000 tons to 81,000 tons, but this does not affect the full displacement of the Nimitz-class after fully loaded carrier-based aircraft oil and ammunition and crew supply.
According to the measurement data of many parties of satellite , the overall size of the Fujian ship is not smaller than that of the Nimitz class. After the hull is launched, the draft is even deeper than that of the Ford class. The official displacement of more than 80,000 tons obviously refers to the standard displacement of the Fujian ship. Considering that the Fujian ship, as a conventional aircraft carrier, also carries nearly 10,000 tons of navigation fuel in combat, it is speculated that the maximum tonnage of the fully loaded Fujian ship may exceed 105,000 tons. Between the 100,000 tons of Nimitz class and the 110,000 tons Ford class, the largest conventional-powered aircraft carrier deserves its name.
As for the three catapult tracks that many Chinese people are very concerned about, the efficiency issue between the two, in fact, the more catapults, the better. According to the tests of the US Navy, the operating efficiency of 5 catapults is the lowest, the operating efficiency of 2 catapults is close to 3/4 of the 4 catapults, and the operating efficiency of 3 catapults is infinitely close to 4 catapults. Moreover, the Nimitz-class installed four catapults because every 400 times the C-13 vaporetto will cause a major failure. Ford-class electromagnetic catapults, the average catapult failure period is only 181 times, and the above problems have not been solved so far. Therefore, the US Navy's super aircraft carrier needs to install more catapults to improve the reliability of the entire system.
. China's Fujian ship actually planned to use a steam catapult with higher reliability in the early stage, but the electromagnetic catapult of Ma Weiming's team showed higher reliability before finally boarding the ship. Therefore, based on multiple factors, the aviation dispatch efficiency of Fujian ships may not be lower than that of Ford-class. Moreover, a series of new warships designed and manufactured by the US Navy in the new century have various technical problems, which ultimately come from problems at the design level and technical route. In contrast, the Chinese Navy's leapfrog 0.55 million tons of large-scale destroyer or the 075 amphibious assault ship made out of nothing are all indirectly proving the strong application capabilities of the Chinese Navy to new technologies.
Therefore, American experts believe that the Fujian ship can be on par with the US Navy super aircraft carrier in terms of technical performance, which is definitely not an exaggeration. However, the US expert Fujian ship may face technical problems, which is purely because the United States does not comprehensively integrate the development status of the Chinese navy in recent years, as well as the smear of the future development of Chinese aircraft carrier and judges others by oneself. In addition, the impact of the Fujian ship on China's future aircraft carrier rotation system and the so-called Chinese aircraft carrier will still be bound by the island chain are not worthy of full reference. Due to the complex technology of the US Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, coupled with the lack of diligence in maintaining ships and the increasingly poor military shipbuilding industry in the United States, its aircraft carrier rotation cycle is already higher than that of ordinary countries.
The current main force of the Chinese Navy is conventional aircraft carriers represented by the Liaoning and Shandong ships, and the Fujian ship has basically confirmed the use of conventional power. Based on the British Queen Elizabeth-class sailing and returning to Hong Kong for 7 months, it will be possible to go out again soon, and the average attendance rate of Liaoning ships from 120 to 130 each year, it can be found that compared with the 36-month deployment cycle of the US Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which only performed combat missions for 7 months, the dispatch rate of conventional aircraft carriers in China and Britain was significantly higher. In other words, the future acquisition of the Fujian USS by the Chinese Navy may not be a simple matter of three aircraft carriers rotating and rest, training, and military exercises, but the Chinese Navy will have the ability to deploy two aircraft carriers in both East China Sea and South China Sea at any time.
At that time, as the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier fleet aging and when the aircraft carrier window period occurred, how could the Seventh Fleet, which even a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, be bound to the East China Sea and the South China Sea with island chains? The prerequisite for the United States and its allies to prevent the Chinese Navy from going to the ocean through the island chain system is that it has a strong enough blockade force around China. With the support and escort of the Chinese Navy with Dongfeng missiles, H-6K and various other advanced combat weapons, even if U.S. Seventh Fleet and Third Fleet can be fully equipped and gathered in the Western Pacific, it is obviously difficult to prevent the Chinese Navy's Liaoning, Shandong and the latest Fujian ships from moving towards the ocean.
