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Satellite Spots China's First Aircraft Carrier
Hugh Pickens writes "Commercial satellite company DigitalGlobe Inc. has announced that it has an image of the People's Republic of China's first functional aircraft carrier, taken during the carrier's first sea trials in the Yellow Sea. The carrier was originally meant for the Soviet navy, but its construction was halted as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and engineers in the Ukraine disarmed it and removed its engines before selling it to China in 1998 for $20 million. The vessel, an Admiral Kuznetsov class aircraft carrier measuring 304.5 meters long, and having a displacement of 58,500 tons, has been refitted for research and training in China. The Ministry of National Defense says the steam-powered aircraft carrier has completed all refitting and testing work as scheduled after its first sea trial in mid-August, and was heading back out to sea for additional scientific research and experiments. According to Andrew S. Erickson at the US Naval War College, China's long term strategic dilemma is whether to focus on large-deck aviation or on submarines (PDF)."
The US uses steam catapults, which are even better but are more expensive and are fairly involved to design.
Better to have your nose straight at Vstall, than have your angle of attack inclined at Vstall. Ski-jumps don't work for heavier ASW/AWACS aircraft, and they deprie you of landing space for helicopters.
Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
Time to drop the trade agreement for furs and hope they dont halve aluminum or uranium within their borders.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
The US uses steam catapults, which are even better but are more expensive and are fairly involved to design.
Ford class carriers (2 currently under construction) will use magnetic launch rather than steam launch.
To be followed in 20 years by the Obama class which use Hope
Go and google "The Ukraine" and look up Oxford English Dictionary and you will find such interesting linguistic jewels. "The Ukraine", "The Crimea", "The Sudan", "The Netherlands", "The Congo", "The Ivory Coast". Now get off my lawn....
You mean land locked Tibet?
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
What are you talking about? Carriers have an offense of 1, a defense of 9, and 4 hit points (1/9/4)! About the only thing that has any hope of destroying one is a submarine (10/2/3) or stealth bomber (14/5/2).
Magnetic launch puts less stress on aircraft, requires a smaller physical space on the ship, and requires less manpower to operate and maintain.
Ski jump technology is doomed as global warming will limit the latitudes where it can be operational
Phht, that's Dungeons and Dragons, a game your play with friends in your mom's basement. He was talking about Civilization, a game you play alone in your mom's basement.
No, that link you posted to a web comic we've all seen a hundred times is not "obligatory."
I guess countries like Spain, Italy and even Thailand are "offensive countries"? They all have aircraft carriers.
Remember the ships the Empire used in Star Wars?
That's right, Thai fighters.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
Also more efficient. I think they're around 20% efficient, compared to steam catapults that only manage ~2% efficiency. They're also far easier to control: You can have a controlled acceleration instead of a huge acceleration that quickly drops, launch smaller, lighter stuff (a steam catapult won't work at "half power", so if you tried to launch an UAV, it would be ripped apart by the catapult operating at full power). Of course, the coolness of any object is automatically improved by adding magnets, so you get that added bonus.
President's names don't make very good aircraft carrier names in my opinion
They also seem somewhat antithetical to our republican traditions. One can understand when a monarchical state starts to idolize its leaders but why should a democratic republic do the same?
By the way, I heard there's a petition to rename the second Gerald Ford-class carrier "Enterprise", since the old one (CVN-65) is supposed to be decommissioned by whenever the new one is finished
A lot of people will be ticked off if the Enterprise goes to the breakers without a new carrier being named after her. CV-6 was the most decorated US warship of all time. She fought in nearly every major Pacific engagement and stood ALONE against the Japanese towards the end of the Guadalcanal campaign when every other US carrier was sunk or laid up for repairs. Her accomplishments were such that she was the only non-British ship ever awarded the British Admiralty Pennant.
Anybody with any sense of history really needs to be writing letters to their Congressman and the Secretary of the Navy on this subject. Seriously, they'd better not replace the Enterprise with a ship named after another politician that hasn't even been dead long enough for history to render a judgment. Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush weren't even dead when their namesake ships were commissioned. How pathetic that we idolize politicians in such a manner.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Learn some fucking facts. Seriously.
The US debt is a little over 15T(Trillion). China holds 1.134T. That's 7.5%
China holds a meager 7.5% SEVEN POINT FIVE PERCENT of the US debt. That's it. Japan, the next highest creditor, holds 6.4%.
The grand total of all foreign debt is 4.6T. That's 30% of all the US debt.
Foreign countries -- all of them -- hold THIRTY PERCENT of the US Debt. The rest is owed to the US, either to the Federal Reserve or the US public.
Here are the stats on foreign ownership of the US debt.
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ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
"To be followed in 20 years by the Obama class which use Hope"
And works indistinguishably from its predecessor....
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."