« Previous · Home · Next »
Hey Look...
By John
...a Red aircraft carrier. Or a "destroyer," if you're Japanese.
The linked article, -written last year- said this:
"I am convinced that before the end of this decade, we will see preparations for China to build its first indigenous aircraft carrier," said Rick Fisher, the Washington-based vice president of the International Assessment and Strategy Center and an expert on the Chinese military.
You don't say. This is the Russian boat Varyag by the way, not an indigenous Chicom construct. Chinese bought it on the cheap. Really.freaking.cheap.
A Chinese company Chong Lot Travel Agency bought the Soviet-made Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier VARYAG (Viking), lacking an engine and a rudder (John says: haw haw!), from Ukraine for US$20 million in 1998, and wanted to tow it to Macau from the Black Sea and convert it into a floating casino.Construction of the Varyag began in 1985. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ownership of the carrier was transfered to newly independent Ukraine. Ukraine halted construction in 1992, when the vessel was about 70% complete. The total estimated cost of the ship was about US$2.4 billion, and more than US$500 million was needed to complete her construction.
Varyag is now under very sophisticated upgrading at Chinese naval base Dalian where it had been tied up for three years after a towage lasted 627 days.
Still, building/buying a carrier is one thing. Developing the finely tuned, highly skilled craft of carrier flight operations (something the US has perfected over decades), might take a little longer. Probably longer than it took the US Navy, communists being communists.
Hotel Tango: Reader John
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://op-for.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1270
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Hey Look...:
» The Floating Submarine Radio from The Floating Submarine Radio
Welcome, please feel free to browse our store. Bright yellow and waterproof this floating [Read More]
Comments
Don't forget the missing Nimitz class carrier on a lake.
Another theme park, of course.
I think the submariners call them "Targets" not Carriers!lol
i took one of the submarine types aboard Missouri and we toured broadway and one of the engine rooms.
when we got back to the edge of the dry dock all he could say was "submarines aint got nothin like this".
C
by the way:
i see pits for jetblast deflectors and one deck edge elevator. but no evidence of catapult tracks or arresting gear.
jetblast deflectors are necessary for catapult operations but if no catapults why install deflectors.
if you have a slant deck you really need arresting gear.
only one elevator????
or are the details lost in the system definition.
C
It's inevitable that as a nation's economic power rises so will its military. I guess the U.S. has to build up ours to make sure we stay on top as well. Pacific Command is going to be the most important command in the next 20 years.
C:
ob. JBDs and no cat tracks -- presumption is the launch methodology will be as the Russians do; a retracting holdback fitting for the maingear, go to full power/ab and deck launch. Simple infrastructure (that still demands a JBD...) but at the penalty of payload and all weather ops.
As for the arresting gear - the cross deck pennants (CDPs) are not installed and (again assuming) leads that retract flush to the deck like ours, then the AG won't be as redily apparent in this overhead image.
- SJS
Actually, if you zoom in and look closely, portside aft you will see three lighter colored circles - given their position and configuration with regards to the each other, I'd say that is part of the AG system.
- SJS
Post a comment
Potential comment conditions listed here. Oh, and you may use basic HTML for formatting.
In 2000 China purchased the Russian carrier "Kiev" to refit. What ever happened to that ship? The Chinese may be making good use of parts of these ships; it would be a fast way to have a carrier (or two).
Russia also sold two old carriers to South Korea for scrap.