Indian Navy Finally Acquires Russian CV

[kham]

From gCaptain the Ex-Gorshkov. Its no supercarrier but the capability to carry fixed wing MiG-29s is a leap forward from YAK-38 and Harriers to be sure. Now, they have to learn to use it and not kill themselves.

[nachtjaeger]

Two dozen MIG-29Ks and ten helicopters ain't nothin' to sneeze at. . .

[kham]

No, but see part about "learn to use without killing themselves"
Otherwise, it's just a cool airfield that floats, and MAYBE lets you fly-off once. Looks like 2 deck edge lifts, no cats, uses the ski-jump system for launch. That limits the payload of the aircraft launched. 60 years on, the steam cat still the best way to go (book still out on e-cats when they become fully operational, but tests look good) Against the Paks, Thais, and Chinese, if they can get up to speed it should be a good power projection unit

[Mynock]

I can say from personal experience the rail gun launch concept works on rollercoasters. If it's safe enough to shoot me 500ft into the air it's probably safe enough to launch a jet.

[kham]

I agree Myn, the only reason I say that is they aren't operational on the new Ford-class carriers; I have seen the field tests and they look to shoot just fine. Steam won't be an issue any more, but I suppose there will be some gripe invented for saving electricity....

[nachtjaeger]

Interesting, that. The USS Ronald Reagan, even though she's the last of the Nimitz class, was built as a testbed for a lot of the tech that's going into the Ford class (formerly the CVN-X program.) A buddy of mine, an engineer, worked on the Reagan. There was a ton he couldn't tell me because of security, but the Reagan is electric drive; no steam turbines and reduction gears. He was in the shaft alley the first time she went from full ahead to full astern while underway. So electric power is NOT an issue. He also hinted "What do bored engineers do with ridiculous amounts of electricity?"

An interesting note: The Cannon class DEs (of which the USS Eldridge was one) were also electric drive. So if the legend of the Philadelphia Experiment is true, then the engineers would have had roughly 4.5 MW of power to play with. Actually I think the story about the Eldridge is bogus; if anything, it is disinformation to cover up something else, like Hangar 18 at Wright-Pat. "Don't look over here- look over there!"

I agree Myn, the only reason I say that is they aren't operational on the new Ford-class carriers; I have seen the field tests and they look to shoot just fine. Steam won't be an issue any more, but I suppose there will be some gripe invented for saving electricity....

[kham]

The Ford-class looks fairly different in the island structure, not sure how I would describe it, maybe 21st-century-y?

Sad to see the Enterprise being towed off, even though that was inevitable

[Mynock]

....the Reagan is electric drive; no steam turbines and reduction gears.

How does a reactor work without stream? As far as I understand it nuclear power is radioactive decay-->heat-->steam-->turbine......it's basically a really fancy efficient way of boiling water.

[nachtjaeger]

What I meant to say is that the steam from the reactor drives turbines that turn huge generators, then huge electric motors drive the shafts. (We haven't gotten to thermoelectric generators yet.) Used to be that all nuclear-powered ships used steam turbines turning reduction gears turning the shafts. Electric drive eliminates some of that complexity (the reduction gearing) plus you have all that electricity at your command for "other systems, both offensive and defensive."

....the Reagan is electric drive; no steam turbines and reduction gears.

How does a reactor work without stream? As far as I understand it nuclear power is radioactive decay-->heat-->steam-->turbine......it's basically a really fancy efficient way of boiling water.

[Mynock]

Ok, that makes way more sense now.....thought I somehow missed some quantum leap in technology or something haha. Yea that would definitely make the engines more responsive......like hitting the gas on a Lamborghini Aventador versus hitting the gas on a steam locomotive.