Chinese aircraft carriers: Type 002 'Shandong', Type 003 'Fujian', Type 004

lancer21 said:
Fujian at Yulin, together with Shandong. Apparently comissioning is thought to be imminent, possibly next week.
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This picture gives Fujian a slightly faulty deck layout.

Type 004 will need a flight deck a good 50ft/15m-100ft/30m longer so that both bow catapults will be clear of the landing foul line. If that starboard catapult goes down for any reason they will have to suspend landing operations to launch aircraft.
 
Scott Kenny said:
This picture gives Fujian a slightly faulty deck layout.

Type 004 will need a flight deck a good 50ft/15m-100ft/30m longer so that both bow catapults will be clear of the landing foul line. If that starboard catapult goes down for any reason they will have to suspend landing operations to launch aircraft.
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IIRC both the Nimitz and ford do not have both catapults completely clear of their respective foul lines either, Of course it's much more pronounced on the Fujian, but both their blast deflectors clip into the landing area.
 
Scott Kenny said:
This picture gives Fujian a slightly faulty deck layout.

Type 004 will need a flight deck a good 50ft/15m-100ft/30m longer so that both bow catapults will be clear of the landing foul line. If that starboard catapult goes down for any reason they will have to suspend landing operations to launch aircraft.
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After all, this is a design that was modified temporarily. The Fujian ship even halted construction for a long time because of this, but the PLA ultimately believed that switching to electromagnetic catapults would yield greater benefits. In fact, the original steam catapult was somewhat shorter than the electromagnetic catapult.
 
SUPER=BUG said:
After all, this is a design that was modified temporarily. The Fujian ship even halted construction for a long time because of this, but the PLA ultimately believed that switching to electromagnetic catapults would yield greater benefits. In fact, the original steam catapult was somewhat shorter than the electromagnetic catapult.
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"We cannot adopt a design that would be obsolete upon entry into service." ;)
 
SUPER=BUG said:
After all, this is a design that was modified temporarily. The Fujian ship even halted construction for a long time because of this, but the PLA ultimately believed that switching to electromagnetic catapults would yield greater benefits. In fact, the original steam catapult was somewhat shorter than the electromagnetic catapult.
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Any rough idea how long Fujian's construction was halted/delayed in order to switch to EMALS?
 
SUPER=BUG said:
Some people said it was postponed for a year. I can't be sure.
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Thanks for your input, just to clarify, did the delay occured before Fujian was laid down (while presumably the project was altered to include EMALS instead of hidraulic cats), or it occured after Fujian was laid down and under construction, the structural alterations (no doubt significant) then being carried out to incorporate the EMALS?
 
lancer21 said:
Thanks for your input, just to clarify, did the delay occured before Fujian was laid down (while presumably the project was altered to include EMALS instead of hidraulic cats), or it occured after Fujian was laid down and under construction, the structural alterations (no doubt significant) then being carried out to incorporate the EMALS?
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Definitely before the Fujian was laid down.
 
The ceremony is said to have been completed, and there were quite a few items added to the list this time. Let's slowly wait for the photographer to edit the video bit by bit; it could be ready as soon as tomorrow, or it might take several days or even months··········
 
SUPER=BUG said:
The ceremony is said to have been completed, and there were quite a few items added to the list this time. Let's slowly wait for the photographer to edit the video bit by bit; it could be ready as soon as tomorrow, or it might take several days or even months··········
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Hopefully soon, there's something magical about the phrase "Captain, Bring the ship to life!" (even if it is the Chinese equivalent)
 
Scott Kenny said:
This picture gives Fujian a slightly faulty deck layout.

Type 004 will need a flight deck a good 50ft/15m-100ft/30m longer so that both bow catapults will be clear of the landing foul line. If that starboard catapult goes down for any reason they will have to suspend landing operations to launch aircraft.
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While it's desirable for both bow catapults to be clear of the landing strip foul line, it's not that decisive when most modern carrier navies (including the USN) do cyclical flight operations routinely, and simultaneous launch/recovery is very rarely done.

I expect the larger CVN to remedy some of the issues with CV-18's flight deck arrangement which is essentially a reflection of being a CV-16/17 derived hull (i.e.: a smaller hull/ship by definition) which places some hard limits on optimal placement of things like catapults, elevator size/number, island size/placement, etc, but given what fixed parameters they had to work with, CV-18's flight deck arrangement is about as good as it gets and arguably made the right compromises.
 
This is the official stance. "We have basically mastered all the construction technologies for aircraft carriers and also possess the most advanced carrier-based fighter jets. The next step is inevitably to achieve nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, and we have the relevant technology for it."

We will see them in the future.It won't be too long before that day comes.
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They will need unmanned aircraft real soon if that video of the neck breaker speed of the EMALS is anything to go by.
 
Oh no no no, quite the opposite. The beauty of the chinese EMALS is that it can tailor literally by the push of a button it's acceleration for each aircraft type offering both the most efficient take-off acceleration profile and the least g strain for the pilot/airframe, this is quite evident in the older EMALS operation video from Fujian.
 
lancer21 said:
CCTV report on the commissioning. The EMALS sequence as posted above is in real time!
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Electromagnetic catapults, stealth fighters and the most advanced Flankers all on one ship. I don't think 20 years ago people would have believed this was going to happen, at least not so soon.
 
Nx4eu said:
IIRC both the Nimitz and ford do not have both catapults completely clear of their respective foul lines either, Of course it's much more pronounced on the Fujian, but both their blast deflectors clip into the landing area.
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Ford vs Fujian. Ford is clear. Not the biggest issue but definitely not ideal.
 

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Also I wonder if the commissioning taking place on Hainan means Fujian is assigned to the South Sea Fleet?
 
Yes, it is basically certain that it will serve in the South Sea Fleet. The commissioning of the Fujian ship will enhance the combat capabilities of the Shandong and Liaoning ships.
 
I saw a YouTube video today ( I think it was recent) of China's President visiting the Type-003 Fujian and I have to say, looks like a good ship. Very neat and orderly regarding the internals (galley, crew berthing spaces, etc). The bridge looked very modern and well layed-out. They also demonstrated their EMALS and the Prez even got to press the EMALS launch button. I did like how the crew claps very, very rapidly when the Prez entered a space, kind of reminded me of North Korea.
 

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