CV-17 Shandong (002 carrier) Thread I ...News, Views and operations
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The problem with gas turbine-powered warships as large as a 60,000-ton carrier is the size and placement of air intake and high-temperature exhaust.
The only other Gas Turbine carriers out there are RN's QE class and India's IAC-1 Vikrant. The Vikrant is not comparable with 001 and 002's tonnage I doubt if 4 LM2500 turbines can work. As for QE, she is powered by 2 MT30s, 2 9MW and 2 11MW diesels in total. But the thing is, QE's fully electric, even though China has something similar in the works but we have yet to see them use it and definitely not on a carrier this early. In addition, China's largest mature marine GT is CGT25M which produces 25MW, their 40MW class turbines are still underbid. I wouldn't even want to imagine the kind of gear box that connects 8 or 9 gas turbines...
The only other Gas Turbine carriers out there are RN's QE class and India's IAC-1 Vikrant. The Vikrant is not comparable with 001 and 002's tonnage I doubt if 4 LM2500 turbines can work. As for QE, she is powered by 2 MT30s, 2 9MW and 2 11MW diesels in total. But the thing is, QE's fully electric, even though China has something similar in the works but we have yet to see them use it and definitely not on a carrier this early. In addition, China's largest mature marine GT is CGT25M which produces 25MW, their 40MW class turbines are still underbid. I wouldn't even want to imagine the kind of gear box that connects 8 or 9 gas turbines...
With nuclear carriers, they'll have to use steam turbines anyway.
Is it worth developing a gas turbine arrangement?
China does have 50MW gas turbine for industrial and power station use but its not for marine use.
China also has RO-110 gas turbine for stationary use, with 110MW. But not rated for marine use.
Also has QD300 which is a new one. This is probably an improved version of the QD280 that uses the GT25000 used with the 052C/D and 055. But even with 33MW, that might not be enough for an aircraft carrier without using at least two to four very large diesel engines.
QD185 is an interesting one. This might be based on the WS-13 core. The size of this gas turbine could make it ideal for use on frigates.
Either way, you don't have a ready one right now, and converting stationary gas turbines to marine and carrier use will add layers of development and certification needed. To combine their output with two to four large diesel engines also means creating a complicated gearbox that requires its own develoment and certification, and it starts to become complicated and unproven. Whereas using steam generation is outright more simpler.
Its not necessary to be more advanced. What's more important is that it works, it works reliably and is easier to fix. Steam turbines works. Moreover, steam turbines can scale up to 1000MW for stationary use. China currently produces 50% of the world's steam turbines right now.
Given that China has a separate and important problem of keeping up with her surging energy needs, I can also bet that the production slots for every industrial gas turbine has already been contracted, reserved and spoken for.
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