Aircraft Carriers II (Closed to posting)

Another thought crossed my mind last night as I was at work about this conversion, If EMALS are fitted, more generating power would bee required, certainly more than can be provided by the ships' main propulsion system. But instead of wild ideas about installing nuclear reactors, I thought GTDAs, Gas Turbine Driven Alternators. Gas Turbines tend to have a low ship impact in terms of how much space and weight in the ship they occupy compared to Steam or Diesel powerplants of comparable power, but often this advantage is lost because they require large air downtakes and exhaust uptakes which occupy large volumes within the hull. For this reason many new designs are looking to GTDA electric propulsion, moving the GTs to a part of the hull above the water line where trunking for the intakes and exhaust can be kept as short as possible, and the power they generate can be converted to electricity then used to power electric motors driving the props. In the Cavour conversion they could be installed in the port overhang exhausting downwards (reducing IR signature as well) and would be dedicated to powering the cats normally. In emergency they could be used to provide emergency power to the ship if the main plant is disabled (with emergency electric motors that could be coupled to the shafts if needed). The Italian Navy has a secondary disaster relief role and the ability to generate power for towns ashore whose own power stations have been disabled would be a big plus.

Another question that comes to my mind reading this is: would it be practical/ usefull to combine cats and sky jump on a Cavour like ship? If you don't have the power on the ship for strong enough cats, this might then be an option to launch CTOL planes.

Scratch, I don't see a practical use. Yopu really limit your payload with a ski ramp. Those catapults,if properly maintained, will work the vast majority of the time. However I think Obi Wan laid out a flight deck as you suggested.
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Anybody need a aircraft carrier?? Hi mileage(kilometers), very clean, needs some work. No weapons, No catapults or arresting gear..great potential. If intrested cal 1-800-USNAVY1..just kidding. The JFK now gives the USN 6 "Super Carriers" "laid up" awaiting disposal.

The six, Forrestal, Saratoga, Ranger, Independence, Constellation & Kennedy.

If you click on the Hi-res links below you can see that the catapults have been removed from the JFK. Also notice parts of the mast laying on the flight deck.

PHILADELPHIA (March 22, 2007) The decommissioned aircraft carrier ex-USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) is towed Saturday, March 22, 2008 into the Port of Philadelphia, Penn. to join other decommissioned ships at the Navy Inactive Ships Maintenance Facility. Kennedy was commissioned in May 1967 by the late President John F. Kennedy's 9-year-old daughter Caroline. The 1,050-foot-long carrier served nearly 40 years and saw combat action in the Mediterranean Sea (Lebanon 1983) and the Persian Gulf during Desert Storm and the Global War on Terrorism. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ann Marie Gorden (Released)

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It's sad to see a once proud ship stripped and bare at the end of her career. The JFK was effectively the non nuclear prototype for the Nimitz class, and it is a shame that congress could not be prevailed upon to give her the necessary refit that would have kept her in the frontline for another decade. I have too many similar pictures of RN carriers in a similar state, axed long before their time. At least JFK had a long life and there remains the possibility of preservation.

Put her up on ebay, I'll bid! I'll have to clear the back garden to find a space for her though...

The French experimented with a 'mini ski jump' aboard the Foch in the 90s, a small narrow ramp at the end of the catapult track intended to push the nose gear only upwards to increase the angle of attack. Some American Naval types such as the F-14 had a 'spring loaded' nose wheel which achieved much the same result, whilst attached to the shuttle the aircraft 'kneels' lower to the deck than normal and at the end of the launch the tow bar releases and the planes' nose is pushed upwards helping the aircraft to assume the correct attitude to climb away from the carrier.

The French Rafale does this also, negating the need for the ski jump.

Obi Wan Russell said:

It's sad to see a once proud ship stripped and bare at the end of her career. The JFK was effectively the non nuclear prototype for the Nimitz class, and it is a shame that congress could not be prevailed upon to give her the necessary refit that would have kept her in the frontline for another decade. I have too many similar pictures of RN carriers in a similar state, axed long before their time. At least JFK had a long life and there remains the possibility of preservation.

Put her up on ebay, I'll bid! I'll have to clear the back garden to find a space for her though...

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Obi, you'd have a lot of competition come bidding time for the JFK, although I'm not sure she'd fit through the Welland Canal, or that any of the marinas on Lake Erie would be terribly enthusiastic about offering dockage for her...

I still can't help entertaining fantasies about the JFK plying the Indian Ocean under the loom-wheel though.

Norfolk said:

Obi, you'd have a lot of competition come bidding time for the JFK, although I'm not sure she'd fit through the Welland Canal, or that any of the marinas on Lake Erie would be terribly enthusiastic about offering dockage for her...

I still can't help entertaining fantasies about the JFK plying the Indian Ocean under the loom-wheel though.

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I'm sure the JFK made a port call Portsmouth some years ago..Not sure if she tied up. I know the Enterprise visited Portsmouth in 2004..



About the Kennedy.

During a NORLANT of spring 1996 deployment the carrier and CVW-8 operated off Great Britain and visited England and Ireland. The highlight of this six-week deployment was a port visit in Dublin. More than 10,000 visitors toured the ship. When the KENNEDY left the harbor, 16 aircraft (4 F-14, 6 F-18, 2 E-2 and 4 S-3) took off from the flight deck and overflew the cities of Cork and Dublin as a kind of "thank you". Later, the carrier visited Portsmouth, England, for a four-day port visit. During that port visit some of CVW-8's aircraft participated in military festivities.

The last days of this NORLANT deployment were used for exercises in the Caribbean Sea before the carrier returned to Mayport, Fla.

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US CVs/CVNs are to big to dock in Portsmouth Harbour itself, the upper limit is about 50-60,000tons at present. When one of the USNs Battleships (think it was Iowa) visited Pompey in the late 80s/early 90s the Harbour entrance was dredged in advance of the visit, and a new channel is to be dredged for the benefit of the CVFs. When my brother was shorebased at Gosport Submarine Base in the early nineties he occasionally talked about US CVs visiting, "Using the Isle of Wight as a mooring bouy and commandeering the ferries for liberty boats!". Plymouth has a similar problem, with a depth of only 40 ft in some parts of the channel. When the old Ark Royal and Eagle (draft 36ft) were based at Guz they had to have extremely accurate navigational fixes when entering or leaving port. On the other hand US CVs have berthed alongside at other British ports, including less than a mile from where I live in Southampton, which can take even super tankers (during the eighties the Burmah Endeavour was laid up alongside).

Obi Wan or Jeff..question for you gents.>>>.Why is the bow of the Armada Espana ship Juan Carlos shaped like it is near the water line..observe..

Juan Carlos I;

This is a new one on me. The ship has only just been launched (note the 'decorations' still on her island) and in the first pic looks like she is being moved into drydock. I think they are supports for bow whilst on the slipway and now she has been launched they will be removed,- hence the drydocking so soon after launch.

Perhaps it is just a wavebreaker and equipment hasn't been added in yet that would increase the ships weight to its full displacement so its sticking up above the intended water line.