This article is from the public number: China Science Popularization Expo (ID: kepubolan) author: Trantor space, from the title figure: Oriental IC
In the afternoon of December 17, China’s first domestic airlineThe mothership Shandong Ship was delivered to the Navy at a military port in Sanya, Hainan.
Picture source: People’s Daily Weibo
Domestic aircraft carriers have attracted the attention of many people. This is the first time that China has independently designed and built an aircraft carrier. The Liaoning aircraft carrier that was commissioned in 2011 was not designed by China itself, and the construction work was also completed by Ukraine about 70%. But the Shandong ship was designed and built by China itself, which is a milestone. From not knowing how to build an aircraft carrier, to today we can have the first domestic aircraft carrier. This is a qualitative change and leap. Next, we have reasons to believe that there will be more aircraft carriers.
The first domestic aircraft carrier goes to sea for testing
(Image source: China Military Network)
Part.1 How difficult is it to build an aircraft carrier?
The construction of aircraft carriers is a systematic project. The tonnage of aircraft carriers ranges from tens of thousands of tons, and it is divided into light, medium and heavy aircraft carriers. The displacement of light aircraft carriers ranges from 10,000 to 30,000 tons, and that of medium aircraft carriers ranges from 30,000 to 60,000 tons. Then 60,000 to 100,000 tons are classified as heavy aircraft carriers. At present, only the U.S. Navy has a 100,000-ton heavy aircraft carrier, with a quantity of 1One, followed by British Navy, Russian Navy, Chinese Navy and French Navy’s 40,000 to 60,000-ton carriers.
From the above rankings, it can be seen that the countries that can build aircraft carriers are all industrial countries. They have a complete set of shipbuilding and aviation industry foundations. This means that building an aircraft carrier requires not only a developed and autonomous shipbuilding industry, but also perfection. The aviation industry supports the construction of carrier-based aircraft.
Take the Russian aircraft carrier Kuznetsov as an example, with a displacement of about 60,000 tons, a total of 27 decks, 11 waterproof compartments across the ship, divided into nearly 4,000 cabins, and cable lengths are countless. Its construction difficulty is incomparable with the same 60,000-ton container freighter. The division of the internal cabins and the structural design are complicated. Not only must it have anti-sinking capabilities, but it must also have the daily life of more than 2,000 people on the ship and dozens of fighters Operational support.
Russian carrier Kuznetsov
(picture source website of the Russian Ministry of Defense)
The construction period of an aircraft carrier ranges from several years. The construction period of an American-style 100,000-ton Nimitz-class aircraft carrier is three to four years. According to domestic official media news, construction of the first domestic aircraft carrier began in 2013 and sea trials began in 2018. Such progress has been considered very fast, not to mention the first time that an aircraft carrier has been built.