As the Spring Festival approaches, five US aircraft carrier and quasi- aircraft carrier battle group approaching my country, indicating that the United States hopes to increase its military pressure on China. At this critical moment, the question of how difficult it is to sink an aircraft carrier has been discussed by more people. Judging from the actual test results in history, it is probably much more difficult to sink an aircraft carrier than everyone imagined.
Recently, the US Navy has gathered military forces around China. As the US amphibious assault ship "US" ends its rest and set sail for East China Sea , the US has five aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ship in Asia-Pacific region. In addition to the USS. United States, there are also the USS. Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and the Essex amphibious assault ship in the South China Sea, the USS. Reagan aircraft carrier in Japan, and the Lincoln aircraft carrier that is rushing. As the US military's ace deterrence aircraft carrier , it goes without saying that the amphibious assault ship is also a maritime platform with strong aviation power in the US military, in addition to aircraft carriers, and has the status of a quasi-aircraft carrier.
Such a powerful maritime military approaching fully demonstrates the US military's intention to increase the level of pressure on China's military. However, the deterrence ability of US aircraft carriers to China has long been greatly reduced. As China has established a complete maritime combat system, the safety of US aircraft carriers in China's offshore areas is actually unsafe. In the face of China's medium-range ballistic missile and hypersonic weapons, the US Navy's existing air defense system is simply difficult to resist. The US military itself also admits that once the war begins, the US aircraft carrier will find it difficult to escape from the attack of the PLA's missile . However, there is an essential difference between hitting an aircraft carrier and sinking an aircraft carrier. How difficult it is to sink an aircraft carrier is also worth discussing. The United States' damage capability test on aircraft carriers provides a very amazing answer to this question.
In 2005, the US Navy used a retired Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier "USA" to conduct aircraft carrier damage tests. This 80,000-ton conventional aircraft carrier was placed on the ocean by the US military and attacked with various anti-ship weapons to verify the lethality of various anti-ship weapons to aircraft carriers and provide guidance for the protection design of aircraft carriers of the US military. But the results of the test were shocking, and the aircraft carrier showed amazing survivability in the test. This 80,000-ton aircraft carrier has undergone 25 days of bombing and withstood the attacks of several bombs, missiles and torpedoes, but has not sunk on the sea surface. Finally, the US military activated the installed explosives at a key part of the aircraft carrier before sending the aircraft carrier to the bottom of the sea. This is a conventional aircraft carrier that the US military has long retired. Its displacement is less than 80,000 tons, which is one level lower than the US military's 100,000-ton aircraft carrier. It can be expected that the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier currently in service in the US military and the new Ford-class aircraft carrier have stronger survival performance, and it is only difficult to sink it. The reason why aircraft carriers have such strong survivability is mainly because the aircraft carriers have complete armor protection and the powerful anti-sinking effect brought by the countless watertight compartments inside.
Take the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier as an example. The steel plate near its waterline has a thickness of 203 mm, and there are up to 500 mm of armor protection near the engine and ammunition database , etc., making it difficult for ordinary anti-ship weapons to cause fundamental damage to the aircraft carrier. More importantly, there are a large number of compartments inside the aircraft carrier. As long as the cabin door is closed, it can act as compartments to prevent the ship from sinking too much water. There are more than 2,000 watertight compartments dedicated to Nimitz aircraft carriers. These watertight compartments can be closed separately and the layout design is carefully arranged. As long as there are a considerable number of water-tight compartments without water inlet, the aircraft carrier will not sink. Therefore, some people say that the aircraft carrier cannot sink even if it is blown up, and this makes sense. For example, it is usually possible to severely damage the world's mainstream 533mm torpedo of destroyer with one shot. Its 300-350 kilogram blasting warhead is difficult to pose a fatal threat for Nimitz-class aircraft carriers with 1,000 kilogram mine resistance. It is very likely that the aircraft carrier will be safe after several torpedoes.
But for us, it is not necessary to sink an aircraft carrier to be the ultimate victory. The combat effectiveness of the aircraft carrier lies in its ability to take off and land aircraft vehicles. As long as one or two missiles hit key parts such as the aircraft carrier's deck or deck lift, an aircraft carrier can lose this critical capability, and the aircraft carrier will instantly turn from a maritime airport into a floating sea coffin. ballistic missile has hundreds of kilograms of warhead and huge impact force. As long as it hits the aircraft carrier, it can cause irreparable damage to the aircraft carrier, and an aircraft carrier may immediately lose its combat effectiveness. Even if the aircraft carrier that has lost its combat power becomes a toothless tiger. If the US military does not send support, it will only be a matter of time before it will be launched to launch a subsequent attack on it and sink it. Therefore, although aircraft carriers are very difficult to sink, aircraft carriers are not invincible. American aircraft carriers may be able to withstand the strikes of hundreds of torpedoes and bombs, but they cannot withstand the consequences of being deprived of combat power by one or two ballistic missiles during wartime.
