Report: China to build 2 carriers by 2015

navytimes ^ | 1/3/09 | By Philip Ewing - Staff writer

[Flavius]

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/01/navy_china_carriers_010309w/

[Flavius]

http://www.examiner.com/r-5037617~Report__China_to_build_2_carriers_by_2015.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1vH2rjUshk

[Marine_Uncle]

How this is going to be interesting.

[Flavius]

So since they lie through their teeth is that like 6

[ripley]

“china to build 2 carriers by 2015”

and obama wants to cut the u.s. defense budget by 25%.

(go figure.)

[bravo whiskey]

to paraphrase admiral cunningham
it takes 3 years to build a new fleet. it takes 300 years to build a new tradition.

[Jeff Head]

They already have one all but complete...so if they build two indigenous ones, that will be three. Otherwise, it's the Varyag and one more and that other one is probably already starting in some yard in China.

THE PLAN TRANSFORMS THE FORMER VARYAG

[LiberConservative]

“YOU! You buil cawwier or DIE!”

[xJones]

Let’s hope the French help the Chinese build their 2 new carriers. After all, it would be hard to top the French navy’s only aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle.

[Marine_Uncle]

Perhaps the question should be asked, will they sink during their sea trials.

[wally_bert]

Didn't it lose a prop or something early on?

[paddles]

2 Chinese carriers = 2 Navy Crosses waiting to happen.

[DevNet]

That depends on if we can get a silent torpedo up and working in time.

[Marine_Uncle]

Roger that.

[xJones]

Didn't it lose a prop or something early on?

That was on it's maiden voyage when a propeller fell off, and it had to be towed back into port for repairs. But the company that had originally built the huge propellers for the Charles de Gaulle had gone backrupt and they had to cannibalize two other French ships to replace the lost propellor.

The ship's flight decks, though, were too short to accommodate the American Hawkeye radar aircraft that France had bought for the vessel. And in addition, the decks had been painted with a substance that eroded the arrest wires used to slow the aircraft as they landed.

The ship's electronics circuits were malfunctioning, while its personnel, it emerged, were being exposed to unacceptable levels of radiation (this was France's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and they'd been trying to use a design that had originally been planned for nuclear submarines.

The glass used on the bridge turned opaque, which meant that officers on the bridge had a hell of a time seeing where they were going. Oh, and then there were the ship's huge number of washing machines, which were all bolted down side-by-side, and when the washers all hit the spin cycle at once, the whole carrier would shake.

But other than that, it's a beautiful carrier, just the kind you'd want to wish on the Chinese navy. There was a really classic FR thread years ago dealing with the Charles de Gaulle, but sadly I can't find it.

[Screaming_Gerbil]

This one?

France has no seaworthy aircraft carriers

[SC Swamp Fox]

I remember that thread. We were shocked that a French ship had washing machines....

[xJones]

SG, I'd love reread that thread but the link doesn't work. Thanks for looking, it's a killer thread.:)

We were shocked that a French ship had washing machines....

LOL, yes! And it was obvious that the problem was caused by the French not knowing anything about washing machines.

[xJones]

What happened? Now the link works!