00X/004 future nuclear CATOBAR carrier thread

[Red tsunami]

so the 004 is going to be wider but shorter than the ford carriers?

Ford's flight deck is 333m

 

[00CuriousObserver]

Iirc, Ford's flight deck is only 333m long; the 337 total comes from a weapons section at the stern. The Ford has a flight deck width of 73m, where as the 004's should be 82/83m. The 004's measurements may be a couple meters longer or shorter, but the difference is minimal.

From 伏尔戈星图:

Based on China’s current carrier aircraft spotting arrangement, if the carrier aircraft still cannot be parked with any overhang beyond the deck edge, then despite the deck being somewhat wider than that of the U.S. carrier, the actual effective usable area for aircraft spotting is roughly the same.
The hangar is currently known to be slightly narrower than the U.S. carrier’s hangar, while its length remains unknown.
Neither of the above points takes aircraft size into account.

Its displacement is 5,000 to 7,000 tons greater than the U.S. carrier’s.

Also, I wasn't a fan of this comparison on Weibo (Ford is like a few pixels too small) so I made my own:

 

[Antares545]

honestly one of the things that annoyed me is how little CWIS are on carriers. like you can easily fit double the amount with minimal cost increases compared the building a whole ass nuclear supercarrier.
same thing bothers me that the 055 only has 2 CWIS. can easily double that amount.

 

[sequ]

I wonder what 004 sensor suite will be like? The same as the 055/003 or something newer like the 055B/057?

 

[AndrewS]

honestly one of the things that annoyed me is how little CWIS are on carriers. like you can easily fit double the amount with minimal cost increases compared the building a whole ass nuclear supercarrier.
same thing bothers me that the 055 only has 2 CWIS. can easily double that amount.

You could increase the numbers of CIWS on carriers, but how much additional capability do you actually get?

All the arcs should already be covered and the idea is that incoming missiles are neutralised at long distance. If a carrier is in a situation where it's 40+ SeaRam isn't enough, something has already gone very wrong.

---

Also, I would count the main gun as another CIWS system.

It's a similar situation with CIWS on destroyers and frigates. If 21 SeaRam, the 20mm/30mm Gun, and main gun isn't enough, the fleet is in trouble anyway.

 

[sheogorath]

honestly one of the things that annoyed me is how little CWIS are on carriers. like you can easily fit double the amount with minimal cost increases compared the building a whole ass nuclear supercarrier.
same thing bothers me that the 055 only has 2 CWIS. can easily double that amount.

Trade off. More CIWS means you need to carry more ammo for them which means less weapons for your air wings. If you want to retain the same ammount of ammunition storage for your air wing then you'll have to sacrifice space somewhere else, either in fuel spaces, aviation maintenance facilities or something else.

You are supposed to rely on your escorts unless you go the soviet route of cruisers with aircrafts, but everybody is already aware of the limitations of that design.

 

[Tomboy]

I wonder what 004 sensor suite will be like? The same as the 055/003 or something newer like the 055B/057?

We can already see the funny lotus seat and integrated mast from mockup, which is already a step up atleast integration wise from what 003 uses. Whether it is the same standard as 055B/057 remains to be seen.

 

[00CuriousObserver]

despite the deck being somewhat wider than that of the U.S. carrier, the actual effective usable area for aircraft spotting is roughly the same.

The hangar is currently known to be slightly narrower than the U.S. carrier’s hangar

In practical terms, the actual capabilities of the 004 itself, ignoring its aircraft, won't differ significantly from the Ford's.

But the title of "the biggest warship" will carry significant political weight, much greater in proportion than the difference in actual capabilities. Even if the 004 was just 1 meter longer or 1000 tons heavier than the Ford, the significance is still present.

We will surely see a lot of discourse (chest thumping) about this everywhere. But online 赢学 "winning" aside, it will have a real impact on China's great power status. I'm quite a fan of Ayi's 鼎 theory, and it applies here. A warship like this is just as much a political tool as it is a combat tool.

 

[leonzzzz]

In practical terms, the actual capabilities of the 004 itself, ignoring its aircraft, won't differ significantly from the Ford's.

With that being said, it seems like J35 will make up the bulk of the airwing with a smaller number of J50-hopefuls being the tip of the spear. The J50 as it is today is still quite large for aircraft carrier standards.

 

[Aval]

With that being said, it seems like J35 will make up the bulk of the airwing with a smaller number of J50-hopefuls being the tip of the spear. The J50 as it is today is still quite large for aircraft carrier standards.

Are we not expecting the J-XDS to be around the same size as a Flanker?

If even the smaller ski-jump carriers can carry J-15s as its standard complement that forms the bulk of its airwing, then the J-XDS shouldn't be "quite large" for the Type-004's standards.