As a major weapon of the country, aircraft carriers usually have strong defensive capabilities, but aircraft carriers during World War II were easily sunkOr was the technology for building aircraft carriers limited at that time?Let's uncover it today.
As for the ability of aircraft carriers to resist attacks, at first many people just thought that aircraft carriers were very resistant to beating, but not many people had a clear idea of how resistant they were, and it was not until a test of sinking an aircraft carrier in the United States that everyone understood how powerful the aircraft carrier was.
In 2005, in order to test the aircraft carrier's ability to resist attack in order to build a more powerful aircraft carrier, the United States personally sank the upgraded "USS America" aircraft carrier that they had built in 1964, which surprised people around the world.
In order to do an experiment, he personally blew up and sank the aircraft carrier he built at great expense, but soon after, everyone also figured it out, and it was not surprising that such an arrogant thing happened in the United States.
On the contrary, people are more curious about how long it will take the United States to blow up and sink its own aircraft carrier.
Everyone wants to see how strong the aircraft carrier built by the country that ranks first in the field of aircraft carriers is capable of resisting attack.
In order to better test a defense data, the United States can be said to be not stingy, they are equipped with a large number of sensors and cameras on the "America", and then throw torpedoes, anti-ship missiles, cruise missiles and even suicide boats on the aircraft carrier one after another, leaving a huge column of white waves, and the United States is surrounded by splashes thrown high.
The United States used almost all the artillery shells it had on the aircraft carrier and bombed it repeatedly, but what was surprising was that the USS America stayed where it was and did not sink to the bottom of the sea until 25 days later.
After this test, many people have a clearer understanding of the aircraft carrier's ability to resist attack, but after learning about the data of the aircraft carrier that was sunk during World War II, they have doubts.
During World War II, the number of aircraft carriers sunk reached forty-two, the same aircraft carriers, why were aircraft carriers during World War II so vulnerable?
In the mid-sea battle, the Japanese aircraft carrier was only hit by a few small missiles of average power, and in less than ten hours, it became a member of the bottom of the sea.
However, the "USS America," which the United States participated in the sinking experiment, was bombed for 25 days before sinking to the bottom of the sea, one in less than 10 hours and the other in 25 days.
What is it that makes the gap between the aircraft carriers of the two periods so different?It's actually the technical reasons.
Strictly speaking, there is a big gap between the aircraft carrier during World War II and the current aircraft carrier, the tonnage gap, the number of carrier-based aircraft carried, the first system, the power system, etc., are different, and the current aircraft carrier is stronger than during World War II in all aspects.
Therefore, if the current aircraft carrier is used as the standard, most of the aircraft carriers used by various countries during World War II cannot be called aircraft carriers, at most they are slightly more powerful ships than ordinary ships.
Due to technical limitations, the tonnage of aircraft carriers during World War II was generally low, and now the tonnage of aircraft carriers that are a little famous in the world is not low, such as the tonnage of the No. 1 aircraft carrier of the Ford-class aircraft carrier in the United States has reached more than 100,000 tons.
Most of the aircraft carrier tonnage during World War II was about 30,000 tons, which greatly limited the volume of the aircraft carrier, which in turn affected the defense of the aircraft carrier.
So how does tonnage affect the defense of aircraft carriers?The low tonnage of aircraft carriers during World War II was mainly related to the steel used.
The period when aircraft carriers first began to develop was the period of World War II, and the initial development period of anything was relatively bumpy, and there would be many detours, and the same was true for the development of aircraft carriers.
During World War II, there were not many countries with aircraft carrier technology, and Britain, the United States, and Japan were all countries that had mastered aircraft carrier construction technology.
For example, the well-known Japanese aircraft carriers "Kaga", "Akagi", and "Soryu", as well as the American Essex-class aircraft carriers, are basically about 30,000 tons in tonnage, and no one can surpass the other.
At that time, due to technical reasons, countries could not refine harder aircraft carrier steel plate materials, and some aircraft carriers still used wooden boards, which made the selection of materials extremely limited when building aircraft carriers at that time.
At that time, most of the materials used in the construction of aircraft carriers by various countries were HTS structural steel with very low carbon content and low alloy ratio, which had advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage is that it is easy to weld, and when the aircraft carrier is damaged, the aircraft carrier can be welded and repaired in the shortest possible time.
But the disadvantages are more obvious than the advantages, the hardness of this steel is very low, generally speaking, the hardness of steel has a close relationship with the carbon content, the higher the carbon content of the steel, the greater the hardness, this is because the higher the carbon content, the higher the proportion of carbide, the higher the hardness of the material.
Low hardness means that the ability to resist attacks is weak, let alone resist the attack of nuclear bombs, and even small missile attacks may not be enough.
However, due to technical problems, there was really no way to refine steel suitable for aircraft carriers at that time, the quality was not enough, and the quantity was made up.
In order to ensure that their aircraft carriers will not be reduced to scrap metal and sink to the bottom of the sea as soon as they enter the battlefield, countries generally use many layers of HTS steel, which leads to the thick steel used.
When the thickness goes up, the space occupied will naturally be larger, and the larger the space occupied, the carrying capacity of the aircraft carrier will be reduced, and the reduction in carrying capacity means that the number of carrier-based aircraft will also be reduced.
The combat capability of an aircraft carrier depends to a large extent on the combat effectiveness and number of carrier-based aircraft, and as the number of carrier-based aircraft decreases, the combat capability of aircraft carriers decreases.
That is to say, compared with the current aircraft carriers, the aircraft carriers of the Second World War era were larger than the pure weight of modern aircraft carriers when the tonnage of the two sides was similar.
You can't have it both ways, or choose to build an aircraft carrier with strong defense, increase the thickness of the steel, reduce the carrying capacity of the aircraft carrier, and reduce the number of carrier-based aircraft.
Either they choose to ignore the defense of the aircraft carrier, focus on the attack capability, and do not use too thick steel to increase the usable space of the aircraft carrier, thereby increasing the number of carrier-based aircraft.
There was a trade-off between attack and defense, and at that time, wars were raging and countries were desperate to gain great combat power.
Most countries are more inclined to develop the attack power of aircraft carriers and ignore defense capabilities, which is why aircraft carriers were weak in defense during World War II and could be easily sunk.
For example, Japan, although Japan was a defeated country at the end of World War II, Japan was still very ambitious during World War II, in the field of aircraft carriers, they pursued "offense is the best defense", believing that as long as the attack is strong enough, then they can contain the enemy in the early stage of the war, so that the weak defense capability will not become a defect of their aircraft carriers.
Another example is the United States, the difference between the United States and Japan is that they firmly believe that their ability to repair aircraft carriers is very strong, even if the enemy attacks their aircraft carriers, they can also repair the aircraft carriers in a short period of time and stop losses for the aircraft carriers.
Then there was the United Kingdom, during World War II, the war between Britain and Germany can be described as one after another, and the German submarine attack group formed by U-2 submarines was too aggressive.
In order to confront Germany, Britain could only find a way to increase the number of carrier-based aircraft carried by its own aircraft carriers, but due to technical limitations, it was unable to build aircraft carriers with a larger tonnage, and if it wanted to increase the number of carrier-based aircraft, it could only give up its defense and focus on improving its offensive power.
For the countries of the world at that time, tonnage is the most fundamental problem, if the tonnage of the aircraft carrier increases, then the size of the aircraft carrier will naturally be larger, all aspects of performance will be optimized, and the number of carrier-based aircraft will also increase, but unfortunately, the technology at that time did not allow them to build this kind of aircraft carrier.
How to carry more carrier-based aircraft on the limited aircraft carrier space to improve the attack capability became the most urgent matter for the three countries with aircraft carrier technology at that time, Britain, the United States and Japan.
In the Battle of Midway, in order to increase the use of space for aircraft carriers, Japan dismantled the fire isolation areas on all aircraft carriers, and in the end, the number of carrier-based aircraft on board was indeed increased.
However, when 30 American bombers went into battle to bomb the Japanese aircraft carrier, the Japanese aircraft carrier immediately burst into flames, and the fire was blown by the wind and spread to the ammunition depot loaded with ammunition, detonating the entire aircraft carrier.
So this is why it is found in some ** materials that the American aircraft carrier will extinguish itself even if it ignites a fire, while the Japanese aircraft carrier is burning more and more, and finally the aircraft carrier becomes scrap metal.
This is different from the current aircraft carrier, the current aircraft carrier, some flammable and explosive parts are isolated, such as oil depots, hangars, ammunition depots, etc., will be separated by transition cabins, even if the aircraft carrier is hit and ignites a fire, it will not cause a series of ** results for Japanese aircraft carriers.
In fact, up to now, the function of aircraft carriers has been far more than combat, more deterrence, and now the political exchanges between countries, whether a country wants to start a war, must comprehensively consider the national strength of the other party.
Military strength is an important part of national strength, and aircraft carriers are an important reference standard for military strength, so having a strong aircraft carrier fleet is what a country must have if it wants to have a high international status.
Of course, the combat capability of aircraft carriers is still the main development direction of various countries, and although carrying carrier-based aircraft to combat is only the most basic function of aircraft carriers, once actual combat breaks out, aircraft carriers can provide strong support for the military to seize air and sea supremacy.
Finally, due to the rules of the platform, you will only be considered a fan if you interact with me more. If you like my articles, you can click "Follow" and receive the article push as soon as you become a fan.
List of high-quality authors