Aircraft Carriers Designs

[surya kiran]

Out of all the carriers, why does the Vikramaditya have the lowest fighter to length ratio amongst the true carriers?

 

[Desertfalcon]

Out of all the carriers, why does the Vikramaditya have the lowest fighter to length ratio amongst the true carriers?

I think because the 'Kiev class' that it is derived from, started off as a sort of hybrid carrier-missle cruiser.

 

[atatwolf]

Japanese Navy

 

[Penguin]

I think because the 'Kiev class' that it is derived from, started off as a sort of hybrid carrier-missle cruiser.

That plus the original air complement consisted mainly of Ka-27 ASW helicopters and a few Yak-39 STOVL aircraft, not fixed wing jet fighters like the Mig-29K.

 

[Indus Falcon]

New CSM Ends Fleet Test aboard USS Ronald Reagan
Jun 24th, 2014

The CSM uses hydraulic pressure to mold, or swage, a terminal onto an aircraft carrier purchase cable. This terminal connects to a cross-deck pendant that stretches across the flight deck, which engages the tail hook of a landing aircraft allowing for a smooth, controlled arrestment.

“The CSM automates a process that has been practiced by the fleet since the Navy started using aircraft carrier arresting gear,” said Jim Raevis, CSM team lead.

On the morning of May 9, the prototype CSM that had been placed in an ISO freight container was craned aboard the CVN 76 flight deck. On May 12, four new terminals were successfully swaged onto purchase cables, and within hours of CVN 76 leaving port in San Diego, California, the cables began taking arrestments from manned aircraft.

“Endorsed as the number one priority by the ALRE (Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment) community at the last three meetings of the Aviation Boatswain’s Mates Association, the CSM will dramatically increase the quality of life for the Sailor,” said Andrew Sussman, recovery integrated product team lead for the U.S. Navy’s ALRE Program Office (PMA-251).

After each newly-swaged wire has accrued 500 arrestments, or aircraft landings, estimated to happen by late this summer, the cables will then be cropped and shipped to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Lakehurst, New Jersey, where personnel will conduct residual life testing.

“We are going to test the terminals and wires to their point of destruction to discover how much strength remains,” Raevis said. “That’s the type of testing we have conducted every step of this program.”

The current time-intensive process of replacing a terminal requires four to six Sailors and can take up to 12 hours to complete. During this process, zinc is heated to 1,000-degrees Fahrenheit in a small space onboard the ship, and the molten metal is then poured into a socket. Special care is required during this risky process, and the work must be repeated if strict material tolerances are not met.

PMA-251 and industry partner, Creare Engineering Research & Development, while under NAVAIR Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract, designed the advanced hydraulic system.

“The CSM requires only one Sailor and forms the replacement terminal in an hour,” said Cmdr. Tony Hernandez, ALRE fleet liaison officer. “Needless to say, the machine’s capability will leave a lasting impression in naval history.”

“The plan forward is to remove socket pouring across the fleet in total, replacing it with CSMs in each and every ship,” Raevis said, adding that fleet installations are currently planned to begin in 2018.

New CSM Ends Fleet Test aboard USS Ronald Reagan >> Naval Today​

 

[Indus Falcon]

USS Nimitz to Undergo Maintenance in Bremerton
Jun 24th, 2014

U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) will move to Bremerton, Washington, in 2015 for 16 months to conduct a scheduled large-scale maintenance period.

Nimitz, currently homeported in Everett, Washington, will relocate to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton for planned incremental maintenance.

The Navy is working to ensure that the relocation of the aircraft carrier doesn’t interfere with the provision of positive, career enhancing opportunities for the ship’s assigned Sailors and their families.

Navy Personnel Command will release guidance to the aircraft carrier that will specifically address how the transition will influence permanent change of station moves, housing allowances, detailing, exceptional family members, and other personnel-related concerns.

The Navy is making every effort to avoid unnecessary permanent change of station moves for Sailors and their families due to the relocation of the aircraft carrier. The Navy’s goal is to minimize the impact the ship’s relocations will have on personnel.

Nimitz, serving as the flagship for Carrier Strike Group 11, returned to Everett in December 2013 after completing a nine-month Western Pacific deployment to the U.S. 5th, 6th and 7th areas of responsibility.

 

[dexter]

THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER
MAY 20, 2014

PART 1: THE HISTORY

How the aircraft carrier idea started?
The aircraft carrier has been an idea in the minds of engineers since the early 1900’s when the dawn of the airplanes opened an entirely new way of waging war. Just the idea of being able to transport bombers over the great seas that in an instant’s notice can be launched into the air, deliver their devastating firepower to the enemies and then be safely landed again under the protection of friendly forces has been so thrilling that it has been in the center of all the world’s navies’ development departments for over a century. And in 1916, with the birth of the USS North Carolina, all engineers agreed upon that only one type of ship would be able to deliver what they all had been looking for, a whole new naval vessel – an aircraft carrier. This is the story about the birth of the carrier – from hot air balloon launches to supersonic fighters doing vertical takeoffs, an evolution starting as far back as in the end of the 19th century…

It is in the late 1800′s and the closest we get to an aircraft carrier are ships whose task is to launch hot air balloons into the air to get an overview of the battlefield. As you can imagine this was not very efficient and the engineers understood that this was an area of great improvement but they had no idea where to start – yet.


The Wright Brothers’ launching catapult
It is December 17, 1903 and the Wright brothers manage to build the first successful engine driven aircraft. To launch it they use a kind of catapult which release a heavy weight from a high tower that is connected to a wire that pulls the aircraft forward until it reaches takeoff speed. They later sold the invention to the US navy and since then the technique has been improved and refined into the vital ingredient that it today is of any fixed wing aircraft launching vessel.

First carrier: The USS North Carolina

USS North Carolina
The next step came in 1916. The US Navy had now figured that dropping a heavy weight on a ship deck would give the ship a (very) short lifespan and instead they started thinking of other ways to rapidly release energy. The answer was compressed air. With the aid of pulleys they managed to increase the amount of energy stored in the air and after years of refining the technique they finally launched an airplane from the deck of the USS North Carolina – The aircraft carrier was born.

But the big thrill of finally being able to send torpedoes by air to destroy the enemy destroyers was soon gone because now the next problem arose – the landing. On North Carolina they used amphibious aircraft to land on the water and then lifted them up using a crane but that was not very efficient. The British Navy’s architects understood that they had to make a landing strip the length of the entire ship but there was one major problem – the superstructure (the “house” on a boat) was in the way. They first tried to split it into two parts, but the gap was not wide enough for an airplane to land so instead they started figuring on other ideas. Some of those were moving the superstructure to the left and have all the fuel to the right, or moving the storage of airplanes to the right to compensate for the weight of the superstructure. But both these ideas failed miserably, when the fuel began to decrease after days at sea the ship started to lean and the idea of moving the hangar to the right was also thrown off the drawing board once the crew started loading equipment in the former hangar-room which also this made the ship lean towards the superstructure… Finally they found the ideal solution: Have the superstructure on one side, extend the other side of the flight deck and place the heavy machinery under the extension to further balance the otherwise overwhelming weight of the superstructure – The HMS Ark Royal was born. Ever since the design was first shown in 1937 it has been used on all air craft carriers together with the tail hook which decreases the length of the required landing strip.


The extended hull mentioned is now used on all aircraft carriers. On picture: USS Enterprise
The first modern carrier – USS Midway
But such huge ships were big and easy targets as was shown in 1945 when the Japanese dropped bombs on the USS Franklin which exploded in the hangar, killing over 700 sailors. Something had to be done. Four major inventions were added to the aircraft carriers after this event: The flight deck that was earlier made out of wood was replaced with armored steel, more guns were added, it got surrounded by other naval vessels, and the use of AEWAC (radar airplanes used to look for enemies in the air) was increased dramatically. The result of all these improvements was the USS Midway, Launched in 1945.

With the dawn of the jets another problem for the carriers appeared. Previously the airplanes landing on carriers had been fixed wing propeller airplanes which moved so slow so that the pilots had well enough time to parry their aircraft into the right landing position. But the new jet fighters with touchdown speeds of over 400km/h simply did not have that time and instead needed another way to quickly get into the right angle of descend. This problem was fixed using a light that could only be seen by the pilot if he approached the aircraft carrier in the right angle – simple but genius.


USS Enterprise – the world’s first nuclear powered carrier
The last major step in the history of aircraft carriers is the refueling. A diesel driven aircraft carrier takes hours to tank, doing this during a war can be fatal for both the vessel and its crew. A new energy source had to be used. The answer was nuclear power. The first aircraft carrier built with the astonishing capability to carry the enormous reactors was the biggest one anyone had ever seen – the USS Enterprise, weighing over 90 000 tons.

Today, almost 50 years after the launch of the USS Enterprise several improvements have been made to aircraft carriers such as magnetic launch catapults, fitting the deck with heat resistant coating which makes VTOL aircraft landings possible without turning the deck into ashes, and they are fitted with more weapons and missiles than ever. But it is still the greatest ideas from the best naval and aircraft engineers from all over the world, from the beginning of the 20th century to today, who has made the creation of the biggest and most modern aircraft carrier ever built possible - the USS Nimitz.

PART 2: THE EXTERIOR

The aircraft carrier is widely known to be a weapon of tremendous power but its shape and size looks like nothing else and its features are surprisingly unknown to ordinary people. That is the reason why in this article we will look into the exterior of this devastating vessel. The aircraft carrier which will be focused on is the USS Nimitz, the world’s biggest carrier, weighing over 100,000 tons. Some of the questions that we will try to answer are:
- Why does an Aircraft Carrier look like it does?
- How are the aircraft launched from an Aircraft Carrier?
- How effective are an Aircraft Carrier’s weapons?

The design of the USS Nimitz’s hull

USS Nimitz (model) from above
If we start with the looks of it those are derived from mainly three things: The size of the flight deck, the weight distribution of the boat and water resistance minimization. If we look at the USS Nimitz from above we see that a small part on one of the sides is made up by the “tower”, called the superstructure. It has been placed on one side of the ship to make place for the incoming aircraft and so improving the area of the landing strip. The fact that it has been placed on the edge makes the open surface even bigger because to balance the weight from the superstructure the flight deck on the other side is extended and so makes the deck even bigger. The reason for aircraft carriers not to be built like enormous squares is because the water resistance would be overwhelming and the engines would not be able to propel the carrier very fast with that design. That is why the vessel is so long and also why the hull is so pointed under the front part of the launch strip. It is simply to split the water in half and so minimizing the resistance that the water makes on the aircraft carrier’s movement.

The flight deck of a top modern carrier

EMALS being installed
The surface of the USS Nimitz has so many technological features that they can not all be written down here but I will mention the most important things of the deck. The catapults of an aircraft carrier are used to limit the takeoff length of a jet fighter from over a kilometer to a mere 100 meters. They work as such that the aircraft’s landing gear connects to a hook in the surface. When the pilot waves to the control tower that he is ready, hot pressurized steam is led into two pipes that ends in the hook that the jet is connected to in the deck and shoots forward, assisting the airplane with its takeoff. But as technology advances so do aircraft carriers. In the new USS Gerald R Ford class, the steam catapults have been replaced with electromagnetic ones, called EMALS (electromagnetic aircraft launch system). The advantage of those are that they deliver higher energy, need less maintenance and occupy less space under the surface of the deck. Another feature of the deck on the USS Nimitz is the coating of it. The coating on the surface is constructed so that it is anti-slip, preventing the aircraft to slide during heavy seas and landings, and also heat resistant which makes it possible for STOVL (Short Take Off Vertical Landing) jets such as the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II to land vertically. If the carrier would not have this feature the F-35’s down-facing nozzle would melt the carrier’s surface. A small feature which really helps the crew of the carrier are all the white lines that indicates where airplanes can be launched, where airplanes can be put without being in the way of others, and where the steam catapults are hidden.

The well defended air base – USS Nimitz

SLQ-32 Electronic warfare suite antenna
The weapons and sensors of the USS Nimitz is an artwork in itself. The ship has enough weapons to defend both the vessel as well as its crew from anything that the enemy might send to sink it. First of all if the enemy would send a missile to sink a modern carrier the carrier sees this with its advanced SLQ-32A electronic warfare suite and AEWACs long before impact. It then launches its interceptors, usually F-18’s to take out the threat. If that against all odds would fail an aircraft carrier worth $4.5 billion is never on its own. It is constantly being guarded by destroyers that would shoot down the intruders as soon as they are within range. Lastly the Nimitz has defenses on its own consisting of Nixie torpedo countermeasures, three 20 mm Phalanx turrets and sea-skimming missiles built to take out incoming anti-ship missiles. There are almost no offensive weapons on an aircraft carrier as its offensive strength lies in its aircraft. However the USS Nimitz has been fitted with two sea sparrow launch tubes, two RIM-116 Rolling Frame Missile launchers and the three previously mentioned 20 mm Phalanx turrets.

To conclude this part of the series it is needed to be said that carriers can have a huge impact. With some aircraft carriers’ capabilities of carrying over 90 aircraft to a war zone, its presence could mean the difference between winning or loosing. Its incredible firepower of both jets and missiles combined with top modern sensors makes it an effective weapon. Its catapults can launch one fighter every 20 seconds, so it can have an air fleet bigger than a small country’s up in the air in less than 30 minutes. This is what makes Nimitz class aircraft carriers and the lead ship of its class, the USS Nimitz, one of the greatest and most devastating naval vessels ever built.

PART 3: THE INTERIOR

The Nimitz aircraft carrier. An enormous source of destruction, capable of delivering hundreds of tons of explosives to its enemy in under a hour, but it’s much more than that. Its 100 000 tons of steel, 18 floors under deck and its impressive length of 332 meters is much more than just weapons. It is a floating city. In this part of the article series about aircraft carriers the focus will be on its interior covering electronic systems, the crew, engines and hangar – everything that makes this impressive machine work and maintain its efficiency during its 50 years lifespan.

The crew’s part of the USS Nimitz

Diagram showing all parts of the Nimitz
The crew of a 100 000 ton ship is tremendous. Did you know that the crew consists of 3200 people – not counting the additional 2500 air wing men (pilots, mechanics and other aircraft related jobs) – when the Nimitz class carriers is out at sea? The logement is located in the bow of the vessel, right under the main launch strip. Here the crew has access to their own bedroom which is usually shared with 5 others, kitchen, enormous diner halls, doctors, a telephone bank to call their family, barber shops, chapels, an aviation jet engine workshop/maintenance facility, athletic facilities such as a gym and even a dentist’s office. But even though the ship has all of these installations it is also very tough for the crew. They are not allowed to hang around on the deck and since the size of the island (the superstructure) is so limited the members of the crew can’t spend their time their either. This means for some of the crew members that work deep within the carrier it can go weeks without them seeing any daylight.

Below the surface of an aircraft carrier

One of the three hangars of the USS Nimitz
Under the deck many things are going on. There is the engine room and an elevator which transports the aircraft down below the deck into the enormous hangar. Under the deck are also almost all of the control rooms located. Since the “island” is made as small as possible the only workstations in the superstructure are the bridge, chart room, radar-and-surveillance systems and the flight deck control room. All the others of the total 6000 people on the vessel are working below the deck. For instance the Catapult Piping Launch Room which’s task is to assist the aircraft with its launch is located right under the takeoff strip. The room which tunes and controls the catapults are located under the hangar in the center of the vessel so that they are protected from potential incoming fire.

The energy source of CVNs

Nuclear reactors of the USS Nimitz class
The engines and energy source of the USS Nimitz and other modern carriers are made up of nuclear reactors which heat water that drives turbines, propelling the vessel forward. When the turbines run on full power they are capable of making the 100 000 ton heavy aircraft carrier move at speeds as high as 58 km/h. The energy harvested form the A4W reactors is also used to drive the thousands of computers and other electronic equipment on board. Some of the electrical energy requiring systems with the highest consumption on board any modern day carrier include: air search radars, target acquisition radar, air traffic control radars, landing aid radar and the NSSM guidance systems. But of course the energy is also used for smaller but still vital systems such as pumping drinking water, lifting airplanes in the hangar, cleaning and circulating the air and refrigerators and ovens for the crew’s food.

In the stern of the boat, behind the hangar and above the rear phalanx turrets, the squadron ready rooms and the ship’s small boats are located. These boats are used by the crew to for instance get to the other vessels of the battle group (destroyers, submarines and cruisers supporting the carrier) and to get to shore to deliver mail that is then sent home to the US. All aircraft carriers of the US Navy are regarded as sovereign US territory even though they are on international water, that is why they all operate under their own ZIP-code.

The Nimitz aircraft carriers are the biggest ever built and they possess a tremendous firepower. But the destruction of which they are capable of is relying on the crew and the subsystems keeping this complex system working – a chain is never stronger than its weakest link. Over 100 years of innovation has lead up the perfection achieved today – the 10 USS Nimitz class aircraft carriers are the undisputed heroes of the seas. With 18 floors under deck, 332 meters long, 77 meters high, 90 aircraft, 100 000 tons of pure steel and a complement of over 3200 sailors and close to 6000 crew total, this is truly the world’s biggest vessel – ever built.

source:The history about the biggest naval vessels – Aircraft carriers » MiGFlug.com Blog

 

[gslv mk3]

 

[he-man]

So wassup
@gslv mk3

Any news on progress in any field we are making??

 

[gslv mk3]

So wassup
@gslv mk3

Any news on progress in any field we are making??

2017-2018 was the date for commissioning

 

[Penguin]

THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER
MAY 20, 2014
PART 1: THE HISTORY


First carrier: The USS North Carolina

USS North Carolina

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_North_Carolina_(ACR-12)

The USS Franklin (CV/CVA/CVS-13, AVT-8), nicknamed "Big Ben," was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy,Commissioned in January 1944, she served in several campaigns in the Pacific War, earning four battle stars. She was badly damaged by a Japanese air attack in March 1945, with the loss of over 800 of her crew, becoming the most heavily damaged United States carrier to survive the war.Franklin, like many other wartime ships, had been modified with additional armament, requiring larger crews and substantial ammunition stocks. Aircraft were both more numerous and heavier than originally planned for, and thus the flight deck had been strengthened. The aircraft carrier, therefore, displaced more than originally planned, her freeboard was reduced, and her stability characteristics had been altered. The enormous quantities of water poured aboard her to fight the fires further reduced freeboard (exacerbated, on her starboard side, by the list), and her stability was seriously impaired, such that her survival was in jeopardy. Franklin had suffered the most severe damage experienced by any U.S. fleet carrier that survived World War II.

Before dawn on 19 March 1945, Franklin, which had maneuvered to within 80 km (50 miles) of the Japanese mainland, closer than had any other U.S. carrier during the war, launched a fighter sweep against Honshū and later a strike against shipping in Kobe Harbor. Suddenly, a single aircraft – possibly a Yokosuka D4Y "Judy" dive bomber, though other accounts suggest an Aichi D3A "Val", also a dive bomber – pierced the cloud cover and made a low level run on the ship to drop two semi-armor-piercing bombs. The damage analysis came to the conclusion that the bombs were 550 lb (250 kg), though neither the "Val" nor "Judy" had the attachment points to carry two such weapons, nor did the Japanese single-engine torpedo bombers in horizontal bomber mode. (The accounts also differ as to whether the attacking aircraft escaped or was shot down.) However, the Aichi B7A "Grace" had this capability. One bomb struck the flight deck centerline, penetrating to the hangar deck, effecting destruction and igniting fires through the second and third decks, and knocking out the Combat Information Center and air plot. The second hit aft, tearing through two decks.
At the time she was struck, Franklin had 31 armed and fueled aircraft warming up on her flight deck. The hangar deck contained 22 additional planes, of which 16 were fueled and five were armed. The forward gasoline system had been secured, but the aft system was operating. The explosion on the hangar deck ignited the fuel tanks on the aircraft, and gasoline vapor explosion devastated the deck. Only two crewmen survived the fire on the hangar deck. The explosion also jumbled aircraft together on the flight deck above, causing further fires and explosions, including the detonation of 12 "Tiny Tim" air-to-surface rockets.
[

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Franklin_(CV-13)

 

[Penguin]

Missing USS Langley CV-1, truely the first modern US carrier.converted in 1920 from the collier USS Jupiter (AC-3),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Langley_(CV-1)

Of course, she followed the pattern set by HMS Argus in 1918...

HMS Argus was a British aircraft carrier that served in the Royal Navy from 1918 to 1944. She was converted from an ocean liner that was under construction when the First World War began, and became the first example of what is now the standard pattern of aircraft carrier, with a full-length flight deck that allowed wheeled aircraft to take off and land.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Argus_(I49)

most early aircraft carriers were conversions of ships that were laid down (or had served) as different ship types: cargo ships, cruisers, battle cruisers, or battleships. These conversions gave rise to Lexington-class aircraft carriers (1927), Akagi and Courageous-class. Specialist carrier evolution was well underway, with several navies ordering and building warships that were purposefully designed to function as aircraft carriers by the mid-1920s, resulting in the commissioning of ships such as Hōshō (1922), HMS Hermes (1924), and Béarn (1927).

Hosho

The Japanese seaplane carrier Wakamiya conducted the world's first naval-launched air raids in 1914.

 

[Ruhnama]

Are have kiev class style is good investment?
You have carrier packed with missile
I like design of kiev class

 

[SeaEagle]