PLAN Aircraft Carrier programme...(Closed)

Looking at pictures of aircraft carriers under construction, i have to say that i doubt that this is an aircraft carrier. The segment wall is too "clean". Aircraft carriers segments under construction have more irregular division, i assume because the inner ship is much more divided.

what do you think?

China is doing its thing regarding its carrier program according to its own time table.

Ten years ago we knew that China had purchased the Varyag from the Ukraine, but most people (not yours truly and several people here on SD and elsewhere) still thought it was going to probably be converted into a casino.

Now, the PLAN completed and is operating the Liaoning which they rebuilt from the Varyag, and has a full blown STOBAR carrier in service. They are building production J-15 Naval Strike aircraft. Thye have built and operate a full blown carrier aviation training facility. They have built and operate a full blown carrier logistical and research facility. They have built full two bases for carriers.

They are clearly going to build their own indigenous carrier. We just do not know exactly when...but we are watching and wondering about the current construction we see at Dalian.

And well we should. SD has been at the forefront of watching and reporting on, and also making good forecasts of that the PLAN aircraft carrier program will be about over the last ten years.

Perhaps it is that first indigenous PLAN carrier.

We shall see, and time will tell.

kroko said:

Looking at pictures of aircraft carriers under construction, i have to say that i doubt that this is an aircraft carrier. The segment wall is too "clean". Aircraft carriers segments under construction have more irregular division, i assume because the inner ship is much more divided.

what do you think?

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Are you talking about the modules? Because that's not necessarily true, it really depends on the shipyard's own preference.
For instance, here are some pics of US carriers under construction, which show very significant demarcations between modules.



But the UK's new carriers are built with the modules all nearly completed and joined together with barely any visible lines between modules


Similarly, here is a pic of a US San antonio class LPD under construction with very distinct weld lines between different modules.


But if you look at HD constructing its 071s, the weld lines are far less distinct and the modules are all in the same colour, giving a greater appearance of "smoothness"


In other words, looking for welds between modules is a poor metric for trying to classify whether something is a carrier.

PanAsian said:

What are we looking at?



Is the upper picture supposed to be the stern and the lower one the bow?

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I think that both pictures may be of the bow.... but the first picture is more forward relative to the second picture, that is to say the first picture possibly depicts the forward-most bow module under construction (given the cross section and eyeballing the size of the module), while the second picture depicts the rest of the hull.

I depict it, below rather crudely:

Here I relate the first pic of the small cross section module as part of the most forward (or one of the more forward) bow modules under construction, to compare it with the bow module of CVN-78, with a black box indicating possibly the rough portion that the Dalian module may represent.


Here I relate the second pic of the rest of the hull under construction, as the base of the hull compared to a more completed CVN-78. The black crudely drawn diagram is again indicative of what we currently see at Dalian.

Also, in case anyone hasn't noticed, in the first picture (of what I suspect is a/the bow module), one can see a sign prohibiting cameras, i.e.: photos.

Obviously i'm not saying that it alone is definitive proof that what we're seeing is a carrier, but it definitely further suggests that what we're seeing is military related.

I could be wrong, but this one could as well be an LNG carrier. Definitely over 50,000 tons, double hulled, deep cargo hold, no sectional bulkheads.

Hmmmm ???

Deino said:

Hmmmm ???

View attachment 15103

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A bit larger and clearer ....

Deino said:

A bit larger and clearer ....

View attachment 15107

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Could be...but at this point may just as well not be.

Intriguing, but IMHO still too soon to tell.

Bltizo said:

Are you talking about the modules?

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It seems that once again i used the wrong term. Im actually talking about the hull bulkheads. They are too big and too "clean". I dont see those kind of bulkheads on any pictures of aircraft carriers under construction. Their inner hull is too divided for that, i assume.

Deino said:

View attachment 15107

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.

Those large spaces in the deck also dont appear on any aircraft carrier under construction. These large spaces point for this ship being a cargo ship.

Of course, im not 100% sure that this is a civilian ship. But the photos point for that, IMO.