CVA 3/3

[Charlie 11]

While discussing the design process of the Forrestal Class, Friedman mentions a few alternatives that the Bureau of Ships put forth. Among these is a carrier that is the minimum size for the 100,000lb bomber. The instructions given to the ships designers are as follows "include in your present CVA studies a study to see how small you can make this ship---not bigger than 45,000 tons standard and probably smaller without a serious loss in aviation capabilities. The project CVA-41 conversion will give you some guidance as to what can be done. Two designs emerged, the larger of which was a 900ft x 124ft 49,195 ton ship capable of 30.8 knots, and fitted with a 19ft hanger and a 7.25 degree angled deck. Aircraft capacity was measured in how many A3D Skywarriors could fit in the hanger. A Midway could fit 29, Forrestal was projected to fit 32, CVA/53 could only fit 24.

My question is how long could a ship of such small size stay in the USN provided it is built? Would it survive as long as the Midways or would it be phased out in the 70s or 80s?

 

[Deleted member 29851]

All large USN hulls are designed to last 35 years without major refit. Even the Essexs stayed that long.

The question is whether it gets SLEP’d to 45-50 years. That would likely come down to budgetary priorities and when the replacement comes online.

 

[apparition13]

They would get to the 90s without a SLEP, but would probably be phased out due to the end of the Cold War. I suspect they would be used in the CVS role.

The real question is what happens to the super-carriers if these get built instead of Forrestals? These look to be roughly CVV sized. Might the USN have a fleet composed of larger numbers of CVV sized carriers rather than a dozen or so super-carriers?