htmlThe launching and undocking of the 318 ship will definitely be a big irritating factor for the Ford , which has been announced for service as early as 2017, but has never conducted any one-day combat readiness patrol in the past five years. If the Ford is not in the second half of this year If it is declared to be on duty, then the title of the world's first electromagnetic catapult large aircraft carrier will most likely be snatched away by the 18th ship. This is a strategic pressure that the navy of a superpower cannot bear. More importantly, it cannot afford to lose this person. However, for the Ford, whether it starts formal combat readiness this year or next year, the long-term incompetence of its electromagnetic ejection system cannot be changed. In this state, even if it is on combat duty in sensitive sea areas, actual combat cannot be carried out. Not only will it continue to lose face, but if the Ford needs to compete with its opponent's aircraft carrier on the spot, how can it avoid war? As early as 4 years ago, there was the idea of ​​changing Ford-level back to steam ejection. But it soon stopped. And after 4 years, the overall situation of
is probably even worse than 4 years ago. This is mainly due to the fact that 4 years ago, a company specializing in the production of steam catapult systems, namely Babuk Wilcox Company, referred to as BW, its unique steam catapult production line was basically complete, but by 4 years After that, due to zero new orders all year round, the only production line for steam catapults in the superpower was actually completely shut down. That is to say, even if the Ford and the other three new Ford-class aircraft carriers are determined to restore the steam catapult mode, there are no new actual steam catapults that can be installed after they are rolled off the production line. But as the saying goes, there is no end to the road. If the Ford really makes up its mind to switch back to steam catapult, although the brand-new steam catapult that just came off the assembly line is nowhere to be found, a superpower is a superpower after all, and its comprehensive wealth is still something else. No other country can be compared. This is because there are still many steam catapults on the old aircraft carriers that are being dismantled that can be refurbished and used. Especially the
Kitty Hawk that is being dismantled, the overall condition of its four steam catapults should still be able to be re-equipped into battle. This is because the Kitty Hawk has been in reserve since it was announced to be decommissioned in 2009. In other words, the navy of the superpower will still allocate a special fund every year to carry out stationary preservation operations on the Kitty Hawk in case of an encounter. In a large-scale war, if the number of aircraft carriers is insufficient, the Kitty Hawk can be restarted within a period of several months. This is very different from the situation in which several other Forrester-class ships and two other Kitty Hawk-class ships were completely abandoned after being decommissioned, allowing them to naturally rust and become dilapidated. The four steam bomb rays on the Kitty Hawk should have been specially sealed and rust-proofed during the storage period, so they would not be completely rusted and scrapped in the past 10 years. The current Kitty Hawk has begun an 18-month dismantling process at the shipbreaking yard in the Gulf of Mexico. Then the four steam catapults on the deck must be the first batch to be removed.
is considered to be a key equipment with recycling value. At this time, if it is used on the Ford class, the timing seems to be right. Of course, the steam catapult on the Kitty Hawk was in service earlier and was an early C13-1 model, which was different from the C13-2 model later used on the Nimitz class. The main reason is that the former lacks a steam recovery and reuse system. Moreover, superheated steam with higher temperature and higher pressure is required to perform ejection work. The ejection steam temperature required is generally above 450 degrees Celsius, or even exceeds 500 degrees Celsius. Later, the C13-2 steam catapult was used on 10 Nimitz-class ships. Because the steam is generated by a nuclear power package, it belongs to the saturated steam type. Its maximum internal temperature is difficult to exceed 380 degrees. However, because of the use of steam recovery and regeneration Utilizing technology, even when the overall work efficiency of saturated steam is not as good as that of superheated steam, it can still achieve the ability to eject a maximum 33-ton heavy-duty carrier-based aircraft. All Ford-class catapults use steam generated by nuclear power packs to eject. If the Kitty Hawk class is eliminated, the
C13-1 catapult will most likely have insufficient ejection force.Even if the horse is forcibly mounted, the final ejection capacity will probably only be less than 27 tons. This is not much better than the current maximum ejection capacity of the AC electromagnetic catapult on the Ford, which is only 25 tons. Unless you wait for a certain Nimitz Only by reusing the above catapult after decommissioning can it be possible to achieve the minimum standard for ejecting the F35C. It is said that after passing a certain village, there will no longer be that store. It can be said that the navy of the superpower knows this sentence more personally than anyone else!
