China launches cutting-edge aircraft carrier, first to be locally designed

WaPoo ^ | June 17, 2022 at 3:15 a.m. EDT | Lily Kuo

[BenLurkin]

n a ribbon-cutting ceremony held at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, officials unveiled the Type 003 warship. The Fujian — which, according to officials cited in state media, would not be battle-ready for five years — is an important milestone in Beijing’s ambitions to develop a “blue water” navy, capable of projecting power far beyond its shores.

The carrier has been the focus of intense interest among military observers and rival nations tracking the development of China’s navy. China’s first two carriers include a retrofit of an old Soviet model, the Liaoning, bought from Ukraine in 1998, and the Shandong, which was built in China but based on the Liaoning model and commissioned in 2019.

It is the first Chinese carrier to be equipped with an electromagnetic catapult for launching aircraft, including those with a heavier payload, faster and more efficiently. The technology leapfrogs the “ski jump” configuration for launching jets via a ramp at the end of a runway used on China’s other two carriers.

[jpp113]

This misadministration wouldn’t do it, but what should be done is:
1. Seals
2. shaped charges on hull
3. during sea trials

[sarge83]

Nice target for Mk-48’s from an LA class boat...

[blueunicorn6]

I wonder if China will have ghost ships like it has ghost cities.

[blueunicorn6]

It’s conventionally powered.

Raise the sails!

[Rockingham]

It looks like a knockoff of the US Ford class. The covering on the flight deck is odd and seems intended to obscure US satellite coverage -- but why?

[Pollard]

ribbon cutting ceremony for something that’s not gonna sail for 5 years?

[ifinnegan]

I remember the discussions here when first Ukraine sold them their aircraft carrier making this possible.

[jacknhoo]

Going to that site makes one feel dirty.

[M Kehoe]

Hi.

Do you know how the carrier quals went for the last carrier? Was it the Feng Shui? Did the airwing get certified?

Last I heard they put a J-20 in the S. China Sea.

5.56mm

[PIF]

According to earlier reports by a navel guy on YT its Nimitz class size

[PIF]

naval!!!

[shotgun]

I’ like the way the built the aircraft hangars on the flight deck.

[Vermont Lt]

In related news, plans for a new coral reef in the Staits of Taiwan have started coming together.

[jacknhoo]

Imagine If China Never Bought Ukraine’s Aircraft Carrier and Rebuilt It
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/imagine-if-china-never-bought-ukraines-aircraft-carrier-and-rebuilt-it-180471

“In 1985, Chinese shipbreakers purchased HMAS Melbourne, an Australian Majestic-class aircraft carrier. The PLAN scavenged equipment from the ship, and reportedly studied the hulk extensively.”

LOL, seven times in that article they word hull is replaced with hulk. Did China write it?

[blam]

[rlmorel]

I lived in Subic Bay back in 1969 when the USS Dwight Evans was cut in half by the HMAS Melbourne.

They towed the aft end of the destroyer in, and for the next few years I passed by the wreck nearly every day.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

If the Chinese truly used a junked old Soviet carrier as the model for how to build a carrier, then I wish that crew good luck because they're going to need it. We've seen how well Soviet naval ships perform, and it shouldn't exactly inspire confidence in anyone.

Building a modern super carrier properly takes an incredible level of shipbuilding expertise and experience, which the Chinese lack.

My opinion is there are going to be horror stories told about this ship for decades. It'll be like one of those creaky French aircraft carriers, except worse.

[MGunny]

Well, the ChiComs are one step closer to seizing Taiwan and the South China Sea. Sleepy Joe and the gang will sit back and blame everybody else for this to have happened.

[Red Badger]