In recent times, news about Chinese aircraft carriers has continued to heat up. Perhaps this has something to do with the international situation, when the Houthis vowed to blockade the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the American aircraft carrier rushed to the Red Sea region. However, what excites the fans of China is that in this sea area, the figure of the China ** ship was also found.
In a satellite photograph, a special picture of a suspected destroyer of the Chinese Navy and a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of the US Navy in the same frame rarely appeared.
The box below in the image above shows the USS Eisenhower, the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower, cruising about 190 kilometers from the Bab el-Mandeb StraitAnd in the upper right position of the "Eisenhower", about 60 kilometers, there is a ** that does not belong to the US combat group.
From the length of about 157 meters, it is widely believed that this ** is the Type 052D destroyer Urumqi belonging to the 45th batch of escort formations of the Chinese Navy, with the port number 18. This makes Chinese fans very excited, but in addition to the excitement, we can't help but sigh, when will Chinese aircraft carriers be able to sail freely in the world's oceans?
Judging from the information that has been revealed from all sides so far, this day is not far off. As everyone knows, China now has three aircraft carriers, namely the 001 Liaoning, the 002 Shandong and the 003 Fujian.
Judging from the table above, the predecessor of the 001 Liaoning ship was the Varyag, which was purchased by China and officially rebuilt by the Dalian Shipyard in 2004, completed the transformation in just one year, and entered service in 2012. Just one year later, the construction of the No. 002 Shandong ship began, and it was launched in 2017 and commissioned in 2019. The 003 Fujian ship started earlier, and the construction of the 002 Shandong ship had already begun before it was launched.
Moreover, the 003 aircraft carrier is also an electromagnetic catapult aircraft carrier, making China a global aircraft carrier power in one fell swoop!Therefore, at this rate, we have reason to hope that in the near future, China will be able to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and make China a global aircraft carrier power!
Recently, there has been a news circulating on the Internet that China has two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers under construction at the same time. However, this does not seem to be just a rumor.
In the first half of the year, in a "Bidding Announcement on the Study of the Technical Requirements for the Installation of Main Equipment of Power Units Applicable to Shipyards" of Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Group, the candidate for the transaction was "China Nuclear Power Research and Design Institute", which immediately sparked heated discussions. Because, the power plant of the shipyard is nothing more than a diesel engine, a gas turbine or a nuclear reactor, and the "Nuclear Power Research and Design Institute" can become a candidate, which is likely to indicate that the power system selected is a nuclear reactor.
As a result, some ** speculated that this may be the nuclear power system prepared for China's 004 aircraft carrier. Interestingly, almost simultaneously, on WeChat *** at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, South China, an article was published, in which an aircraft carrier with a board number 20 was shown. This is also the reason why everyone believes that the 004 aircraft carrier will be manufactured by Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Group. Because, the Liaoning ship has a side number of 16, the Shandong ship is 17, and the Fujian ship is 18, so the 004 aircraft carrier should be 19, and the 005 aircraft carrier should be 20.
Regardless of who is the 004 aircraft carrier and who is the 005 aircraft carrier, in short, this is likely to indicate that the two shipyards in the north and south of China are building an aircraft carrier at the same time. Compared with the Fujian shipyard, the 20-ship aircraft carrier of the Jiangnan Shipyard has also been greatly reduced and has no chimneys. Just from the appearance, it can be inferred that this aircraft carrier under construction should also be a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
What does this mean?China is about to have 5 aircraft carriers, and there may be two nuclear-powered and electromagnetic catapult carriers!
If the news is true, this is definitely a big deal, enough to shock the world!At present, the displacement of the 001 Liaoning ship is about 550,000 tons, the displacement of the 002 Shandong ship is 67,000 tons, and the displacement of the 003 Fujian ship is more than 80,000 tons, and the electromagnetic catapult takes off. Therefore, 004 and 005 are most likely behemoths with a displacement of 100,000 tons, which are comparable enough to the American Nimitz-class and Ford-class aircraft carriers. However, the steam catapult used by the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, the attendance rate of the carrier-based aircraft is not as good as that of the electromagnetic catapult, so it is no longer as advanced as the Chinese aircraft carrier.
In terms of the number of carrier-based aircraft, the number of carrier-based aircraft carried by the Liaoning is 36, the Shandong is 44, and the Fujian is more than 60, all of which are lower than those of the United States. However, once the displacement of the Chinese aircraft carrier reaches 100,000 tons, and at the same time it uses electromagnetic catapult, the number of its carrier-based aircraft will reach or even surpass that of the American aircraft carrier!
Moreover, don't look at the Ford-class aircraft carrier is also an electromagnetic catapult, but since the Ford aircraft carrier left the factory, the failure rate of its electromagnetic catapult is very high. This is too embarrassing for the United States. Because, the US generals once arrogantly said that they would deploy the USS Ford aircraft carrier in the western Pacific to deter China, but it turned out to be lonely.
Because, it is rare to see Ford-class aircraft carriers around China, and we still see the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers "Reagan" and "Carl Vinson". The reason for this is that there are too many failures in the Ford, and the United States is afraid of being embarrassed!
In the new round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the US military sent the lead ship of the Ford-class aircraft carrier, the latest generation of US aircraft carriers, and the most expensive aircraft carrier of the United States to date, to the eastern Mediterranean. Subsequently, however, the United States went so far as to send the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower to the eastern Mediterranean. This makes people very puzzled: Is it necessary for the United States to dispatch two aircraft carrier strike groups to deal with one Hamas?
In fact, the United States is nominally carrying out a two-aircraft carrier deterrent to countries in the Middle East, but in fact it is not at ease with the Ford. When the Houthis attacked Israeli merchant ships passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, it was the USS Eisenhower, not the USS Ford, that entered the Red Sea. This is also the reason why the American aircraft carrier "Eisenhower" and the Chinese Type 052D destroyer Urumqi are in the same frame as mentioned at the beginning of this article!
It can be seen that although the United States claims to have 11 aircraft carrier strike groups, there are very few that can really handle them. Moreover, in terms of carrier-based aircraft and **, China is not inferior, J-15T, J-35 (FC-31), Air Police-600 early warning aircraft, J-15D electronic warfare aircraft and Z-20, may board the 003 and 004 and 005 aircraft carriers. What made the Americans even more devastated was that the X-47B carrier-based drone developed by the US military was never able to board the ship due to the high failure rate when landing. But there is news that China's Attack-11 stealth drone will likely be on board, which will make China the first country in the world to have a drone on board!
And the drone on board the ship will completely change the theory and mode of future naval warfare, and even trigger a new round of military revolution!This will completely change the strategic pattern in which US aircraft carriers have dominated the global seas since World War IIThe so-called first carefully constructed by the United States.
First, the second island chain will also be completely dismantled.
Although China does not have military bases overseas, relying on the deterrence of shore-based fighters and land-based missiles, coupled with a 100,000-ton displacement of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, the Chinese Navy will have sufficient strength to form an absolute advantage in the waters off the Diaoyu Islands and the waters east of Taiwan.
If China's 095 attack nuclear submarine and 096 strategic nuclear submarine also enter active service, plus the H-20, the US military's military superiority in the world will no longer exist!
At that time, China will reproduce the demeanor of Zheng He's ocean-going fleet 600 years ago, so that those who covet China will no longer dare to provoke China's big eastern powers.