Replies

Yes...but your Catalina 27 would not have ... ..... a 65,000 ton displacement and embark 40-50 modern jet fighter and attack aircraft

Look at the photo of the Vayrag:

"Ski Jump" configuration. No angle deck.

What that means is that it can only accomodate VTOL jets and helicopters.

According to the On Dec. 29, 1995, the Moscow-based Segodnya newspaper:

" Varyag could deploy up to 24 fighters with vertical landing/takeoff [VTOL], such as SU-25 UTG, SU-27 K, MiG-29L, and up to 42 naval combat helicopters, such as KA-29 and KA-31."

Missing from the mix are state-of-the art air superiority fightes and the over-the-horizon radar aircraft such as the Hawkeye that allow U.S. carriers to identify and eliminate threats hundreds of miles from the carrier group.

E-2C Hawkeye

What that means is that such a carrier goes into battle like a blind man taking a knife to a gun fight.

The Brits had such "Gary Hart carriers" during the Falklands War and the British carriers found it beyond their capabilities to prevent ancient, Argentine A-4 Skyhawks (an aircraft that began operational service in 1956) from dropping "dumb" (unguided) bombs and damaging or sinking British ships that included HMS Glasgow, HMS Argonaut, HMS Ardent, HMS Antelope, RFA Sir Bedivere and RFA Sir Galahad.

When the enemy is succesfully scoring sinkings on your fleet with "dumb" bombs that are powered by good ole gravity, that means that you have allowed the enemy to be on your fleet like a pitbull on a pork chop.

During the Falklands War, I was stationed aboard a U.S. Navy CGN whose mission it was to provide missile defense for carrier battle groups. The C.O. wanted to use the unfolding Falklands War as a Ward Room discussion topic for the ship's officers so that we could war game an actual carrier warfare battle as it unfolded. However, the capabilities of the British VTOL carriers were so antiquated in comparison to a modern U.S. carrier battle group that our C.O. soon realized that we might as well have been war gaming the Battle of Trafalgar.

I am very familiar with US naval resources and the operations of our carrier battel groups. There is no doubt that in an open sea, strike at sea scenario, that a carrier such as this would not stand against any battle group of ours.

That being said, a modern Chinese carrier group in the China Sea is a different matter. When they are in range of massive land based air in support of their operations they become a tougher nut to crack. Particularly if the augment said groups with the modern surface and air warfare escorts they are building, along with a sub force that could be a potent threat in such waters.

Do not let the ski jump configuration lead you to believe that only VTOL operations are possible. For over a decade the Soviets have operated the older, sister ship to this very carrier, utilizing potent SU-27 aircraft. They are capable of STOL operations. And it does have an angled deck. That pic does not show it well. Here is a better view of the Russian ship, the Admiral Kuznetzov, which shows its angled deck configuration witht he ski jump...

You can see five SU-27's, wings folded, along and to the aft of the Island.

What it means of course is that the efficiency of operations is severally constrained as compared to our own. In addition, their expertise and training is way behind our decades of experience.

But, like I said, in the confines of those waters close to their mainland bases, it would significantly increase the threat.