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To: Jeff Head
The latest carrier obtained in this fashiopn is the most troubling. It is the Russian carrier, the Varyag. The Varyag is.a relatively modern design and could be made into something that is very capable.

Nope.

It's a rusted out hulk in disastrous shape (it wasn't sealed properly and was left open to the elements for years) and very little was completed on it besides the basic hull.

One could only hope the PRC would be stupid enough to try to put it back into service. Would probably take more time and money than building a new one.

Given construction time, the immense amount of time to figure out and train for the intricate dance of carrier operations, you're probably looking at 15-20 years for the PLAN to have anything even vaguely resembling real carrier capability.

15 posted on 01/06/2004 9:40:10 AM PST by John H K
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To: John H K
Actually the Varyag was 60-70% complete when construction was halted and the Russians removed a substantial number of systems that had already been installed.

As to its sea-worthiness, it was towed half way around the world through some major gales and arrived safely.

It would be far cheaper to take such a vessel, refit and complete it to something akin to its original intent, particularly if the Russians are willing to help...than to design and build a new one from scratch. The Varyag is a proven design that is working for the Russians (the Kusnetszov) and where the Russians have more limited funds for maintenance and training, the Chinese would be in a position to pour more into it I believe. My guess is, given the history of dealing with the Chinese, the Russians would be willing to deal for hard currency.

The Russians are doing just this with the Indians, with another, older carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov, which was a predecessor to the Kuznetzov and Varyag,and that sat around a lot longer than the Varyag.

Now, as to whether this is what the Chinese actually want to do or not is yet to be seen and is anyone's guess. IMHO, they certainly are taking a good look at it though.

49 posted on 01/06/2004 12:55:27 PM PST by Jeff Head
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To: John H K
The nice thing about something that big is that it could block a waterway if we sunk it.
135 posted on 01/09/2004 5:29:32 PM PST by dr_who_2
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