Ming Dynasty admiral spooks Taiwan (Chinese carrier)

Asia Times ^ | Apr 13, 2011 | Jens Kastner

[sukhoi-30mki]

Ming Dynasty admiral spooks Taiwan

By Jens Kastner

TAIPEI - A proud China is set to launch its first aircraft carrier. For Taiwan, the carrier's most frightening aspect could be its name.

For years, military enthusiasts flying over the seaport city of Dalian in northeast China knew well when to press their noses against the cabin windows. On the approach to Dalian's Zhoushuizi airport, the construction of China's first aircraft carrier could be spotted, with workers busy along the length of the 302-meter long, 70.5-meter wide ship.

They installed engines and other heavy equipment, completed the radar mast, installed the shipborne multi-function Active Phased Array Radar (APAR) and Sea Eagle radar as sensors, hauled up Type 730 close-in weapon system (CIWS) seven-barreled 30mm machine guns to destroy incoming anti-ship missiles and enemy aircraft at short range, and tinkered with the fully automatic fire-and-forget Flying Leopard 3000 Naval (FL-3000N) air defense missile system.

Once the steely giant blew out steam and exhaust, and workers begun painting its hull the People's Liberation Army Navy's (PLA Navy's) standard light gray-blue, it became clear that the 67,000 tonne-carrier was never meant to become a Macau casino float as the Chinese had initially claimed.

The story of how the Varyag - once destined to become a Soviet navy multi-role aircraft carrier - ended up in Chinese hands may inspire novelists or screenplay writers for decades. Her keel was laid down in 1985 in what was then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, only to have construction stopped - while the ship was structurally complete but without

[PzLdr]

Mongols invaded Japan twice. The first time they were kicking the crap out of the Samurai, when the inevitable storm damaged the fleet, and forced them to withdraw. The second time was worse.

[PzLdr]

I don’t think so. But by defeating the Sung [the last boy emperor jumped overboard during a sea battle, they may have gained suzerainty over the island, if it was part of China at the time.

[sinanju]

Actually, some accounts have it that in the first invasion, the Mongols initially kicked ass and had a clear shot at landing their full force but for some reason they didn’t think they had won and they hastily retired and sailed home.

The next time, Japan was ready for them, with fortifications at likely landing sites and forces arrayed and quickly mobilized. In the midst of the hard-fought battle the “Divine Wind” struck and settled the issue.

Kubilai never gave up the dream of conquering Japan but died before he could make a third go.

Why anyone would want to invade Japan back then is beyond me. Like the nineteenth-century European colonial mania and the “Race for Africa” more would have been gained through peaceful trade than having to invade and administer the place.

[sinanju]

Are you sure you’re not getting the Defeat of the Sung mixed up with the sea battle of Dan-no-Ura (1185) of the Japanese Genpei War wherein the boy-emperor Antoku and his grandmother drowned themselves rather than face defeat and capture?

[sinanju]

Okay, Looking up Varyag/Shi Lang, I find the sister ship—the Admiral Kuznetsov—currently serving, has a complement of 12 Su-33 (carrier version of Su-27) and 5 Su-25UTG/UBP (carrier version of Su-25 Frogfoot) and a clutch of Kamov Ka-27 variant helos.

So I can only assume that the Chinese version will carry something similar. You can’t just take any old fighter aircraft and stick a tailhook on it. Carrier aircraft have to be designed for the job from the wheels up, although the Varyag ski jump design exists to spare the planes the stresses of catapult launches.

[sinanju]

I read Saburo Sakai’s “Samurai” when I was a kid. His account of the training and selection of Imperial Navy fighter pilots went beyond demanding to verge on the ridiculous. It was like they were training Ninja/SEALs. Astonishing feats of acrobatics and athleticism were required. Of course, the end product were superb pilots but the numbers were miniscule.

He noted that the Imperial Navy pilot school refused to relax its bizarre standards and continued to turn out fliers in inadequate numbers until late in the war when (much like the Germans) they started churning out, en masse, those “half-trained teenagers” of legend that our guys had so much fun slaughtering.

Sakai also noted that they never even bothered to recall those classmates of his who washed out and who would have been vastly superior to the kids they were sending up at the end.

[PzLdr]

I can think of a couple of reasons Qublai wanted to invade Japan. First, like Claudius, he wanted a conquest of his own to seal his reputation. While hwe finished the conquest of the Sung, his brother Mongke had started it. Second, Twemujin had established the principle that no significant military power not a Mongol vassal could exist on their borders. With the vassalage of Korea, Japan was next to the Mongol Empire. Third, the Japanese sent back the heads of the ambassadors Qublai sent, initially, to Japan. The Mongols considered ambassadors inviolate [not just theirs], and killing those men was an act of war that rquired a major reasponse, going back to the days of Chinnghis [Khwaresm, anyone?].

[PzLdr]

I could be wrong, but I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure Qublai treated the emperor’s mother well, but I think the child went over the side with the Chinese Admiral who lost.