Carriers

The US Navy will decommission two nuclear aircraft carriers back-to-back and two Independence-class Littoral Combat Ships will go up for foreign military sale

According to the US Navy’s latest long-range shipbuilding plan, the service will decommission two nuclear aircraft carriers back-to-back and two Independence-class Littoral Combat Ships will go up for foreign military sale.

The 48-year-old USS Nimitz (CVN-68) will leave service in 2026, one year later than last year’s plan. Nimitz was commissioned in 1975 and built for a 50-year service and after a planned 13-month service life extension will squeeze at least one more deployment from the first-in-class carrier.

The US Navy said its plan to extend Nimitz is part of a five-and-a-half-month maintenance availability that will carry the carrier into May 2026, the service said in an Apr. 18, 2023 statement to USNI News.

Breaking Defense told last week that Nimitz will travel to Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII)’s Newport News Shipbuilding to begin the deactivation process at the Virginia shipyard after its last deployment.

Nimitz‘s decommissioning will follow the former USS Enterprise (CVN-65), which was decommissioned in 2012.

USS Nimitz was ordered in 1967 as a development of the ten-year-old USS Enterprise, the world’s first nuclear powered aircraft carrier. Although dimensionally smaller than the Enterprise, the Nimitz Class use fewer but more powerful nuclear reactors, have a higher displacement, and operate roughly the same number of aircraft. Like the Enterprise, the use of nuclear reactors allowed the carriers’ superstructure to be much smaller, with no need for large funnels, allowing greater space on the flight deck. USS Nimitz was launched in May 1972 and, after extensive trials, commissioned in May 1975. USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) and USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) both followed within five years. As told by RAF Museum, originally, they were classified as attack carriers, but with the commission of the Carl Vinson this changed to a combined attack and anti-submarine role.

As told by USNI News, according to the plan Nimitz will remove a year-long buffer between Nimitz and the decommissioning of carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.

If Ike will not undergo a similar service life extension, it will leave the fleet in 2027 and likely join Nimitz at Newport News, along with at least one, if not two carriers in overhaul and new carriers Enterprise (CVN-80) and Doris Miller (CVN-81) that are under construction at the Virginia yard.

The US Navy also said that according to the long-range shipbuilding plan it wants to retire two Independence-class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) ahead of their 25-year expected service lives.

USS Jackson (LCS-6) and USS Montgomery (LCS-8), commissioned in 2015 and 2016, respectively, are now marked for foreign military sales as part of the decommissioning plan.

Since the Navy is focusing the Independence-class ships on mine countermeasure missions means the service said it only needs 15.

LCS is a fast, agile, focused-mission platform designed for operation in near-shore environments yet capable of open-ocean operation. It is designed to defeat asymmetric “anti-access” threats such as mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast surface craft. The LCS class consists of two variants, the Freedom variant and Independence variant.

According to the US Navy, the Independence Variant features a unique trimaran construction is unique to the US Navy and lends the ship some unique characteristics. Its flight deck is the largest of any current surface combatant, and its hangar bay is able to hold two MH-60 helicopters.

Photo by U.S. Navy

The Gerald R. Ford-class is the replacement for Enterprise and Nimitz-class aircraft carriers

Aircraft carriers continue to be the centerpiece of America’s Naval forces necessary for operating forward. In times of crisis, the first question leaders ask is: “Where are the carriers?”

Often the presence of an aircraft carrier has deterred potential adversaries from striking against US interests. Aircraft carriers support and operate aircraft that engage in attacks on airborne, afloat and ashore targets that threaten free use of the sea and engage in sustained power projection operations in support of US and coalition forces.

The Nimitz and Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers are the largest warships in the world, each designed for an approximately 50-year service life with just a single mid-life refueling.

The Gerald R. Ford-class is the replacement for Enterprise and Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. The lead ship, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), was commissioned in 2017. The Gerald R. Ford-class will be the premier forward asset for crisis response and early decisive striking power in a major combat operation.

How do Gerald R. Ford-class carriers differ from Nimitz-class carriers?

According to an interesting post available to read here, the 4 biggies are:

• Two reactors that generate 600MW of electrical power vs 200MW in Nimitz class.
• An electromagnetic catapult that can generate 25% more sorties than the Nimitz’s steam system as well as a dozen electromagnetic weapons elevators.
• An AEGIS-style X-Band AN/SPY-3 Aegis radar and the S-Band Volume Surveillance Radar capable of search, track and multiple missile illumination, detecting enemy aircraft and missiles.
• Two Mk. 29 missile launchers with eight ESSM each, and two Rolling Airframe Missile launcher and four Phalanx Close-In Weapon Systems for point defense against aircraft, missiles and small ships.

While the EMALS cats have had some issues during testing, and received some bad press from former elected leaders, experienced Naval aviators and profession squadron maintenance officers have commented that the EMALS will “dramatically reduce stress on existing and future airframes, allowing for longer service lives, lighter weights, and require less fuselage and empennage maintenance” on Naval aircraft.

Improvements aboard CVN 78 will be carried forward to the next carriers of the class: John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), Enterprise (CVN 80) and Doris Miller (CVN 81). Each ship in the class will save nearly $4 billion in total ownership costs during its 50-year service life, compared to the Nimitz-class.

Photo by U.S. Navy

According to Fiscal Year 2024 budget, John F. Kennedy’s (CVN-79), the next Ford-class aircraft carrier, will now deliver to the US Navy in 2025, one year later than the service’s most recent projection

According to Fiscal Year 2024 budget documents released two weeks ago, the next Ford-class aircraft carrier will now deliver to the US Navy in 2025, one year later than the service’s most recent projection.

As reported by USNI News, according to the US Navy service’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget documents, the service delayed future carrier John F. Kennedy’s (CVN-79) delivery date from June 2024 so the US Navy could alter the ship’s Post Shakedown Availability (PSA) and perform more work during construction.

“The Navy is implementing a strategy to pull baseline work from the Post Shakedown Availability (PSA) into the construction period in order to provide more capability at ship delivery,” the Navy’s shipbuilding budget books read.

According to the service, the altered schedule will ensure Kennedy is ready to deploy to the Indo-Pacific.

The documents read;

“This approach will prepare CVN-79 as the first FORD class aircraft carrier to operate in the Indo-Pacific region and decrease the amount of time CVN-79 would be required to be at the shipyard after ship delivery to conduct the PSA. CVN-79s PSA will align to a traditional period of resolving discrepancies discovered during trials. The revised strategy maintains the overall ‘ready for deployment workups’ milestone for CVN-79.”

According to the budget books, “In 2020, the Navy switched from pursuing a dual-phase delivery for Kennedy to a single-phase delivery. That decision added two years of work to Kennedy‘s detailed design and construction contract. The additional work and schedule are so Newport News can include alterations for the carrier to field the F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, the Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar, and fix issues that the shipbuilder found when building USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), according to the budget books.”

Kennedy was slated for a 2022 delivery when the carrier was christened at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding in December 2019. But the Navy at that time was still pursuing the dual-phase delivery plan, in which Newport News would build most of the ship, pause the work, and then install additional systems later.

The goal of the dual-phase delivery was to save the Navy money on construction schedules in the yard while avoiding significant overlap between Kennedy entering the fleet and USS Nimitz (CVN-68) leaving, which would strain the service financially and in manning. The Navy at the time also said it would allow the shipbuilder to install updated electronics onto the carrier. Under the dual-phase approach, Kennedy would have received retroactive modifications for the F-35C after delivery.

But the Navy’s newest aircraft carriers not having the ability to field its fifth-generation fighters angered lawmakers. After Congress mandated that Kennedy have the ability to field the F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter before finishing its PSA, the service in 2020 ditched the dual-phased delivery strategy.

The Navy then projected Kennedy’s delivery for 2024 as a result of the shift to a single-phase approach. The service continued to project a June 2024 delivery through its FY 2023 budget documents.

Kennedy is the second aircraft carrier in the Ford Class, the first new class in more than 40 years.

CVN-79 is also the second aircraft carrier to honor President John F. Kennedy for a lifetime of service to the nation. The first USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) aircraft carrier served the fleet for over 50 years before decommissioning in 2007. John F. Kennedy wore our nation’s uniform as a Navy Lieutenant during World War II before serving as the 35th President of the United States from January 1961 to November 1963.

At 1,092 feet in length and 100,000 tons, CVN-79 incorporates more than 23 new technologies, comprising dramatic advances in propulsion, power generation, ordnance handling, and aircraft launch systems. These innovations will support a 33% higher sortie generation rate at significant cost savings when compared to Nimitz-class carriers. The Gerald R. Ford class also offers a considerable reduction—approximately $4 billion per ship—in life cycle operations and support costs compared to the earlier Nimitz class.

The new technology and warfighting capabilities that John F. Kennedy brings to the fleet will transform naval warfare, supporting a more capable and lethal forward-deployed US naval presence. In an emerging era of great power competition, CVN-79 will serve as the most agile and lethal combat platform globally, with improved systems that enhance interoperability among other platforms in the carrier strike group and with the naval forces of regional allies and partners.

Photo by Matt Hildreth/HII / Huntington Ingalls Industries

Assuming a Nimitz aircraft carrier and the Admiral Kuznetsov are without escort what flattop would win in 1v1?

Originally commissioned in the Soviet Navy, Admiral Kuznetsov was intended to be the lead ship of the two-ship Kuznetsov class. Varyag, Admiral Kuznetsov’s sister ship, was still incomplete when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The second hull was eventually sold by Ukraine to the People’s Republic of China, completed in Dalian and commissioned as Liaoning. Instead Admiral Kuznetsov is Russia only carrier.

By contrast the US Navy has ten nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. With an overall length of 1,092 ft (333 m) and a full-load displacement of over 100,000 long tons (100,000 t), the Nimitz-class ships were the largest warships built and in service until USS Gerald R. Ford entered the fleet in 2017. (the first sample of the next generation of aircraft carrier).

These aircraft carriers are the centerpiece of America’s Naval forces – the most adaptable and survivable airfields in the world. On any given day, Sailors aboard an aircraft carrier and its air wing come to the fight trained and equipped across a full range of missions. They are ready to control the sea, conduct strikes, and maneuver across the electromagnetic spectrum and cyberspace. No other naval force fields a commensurate range and depth of combat capabilities.

Assuming a Nimitz aircraft carrier and the Admiral Kuznetsov are without escort what flattop would win in 1v1?

‘Well currently the Kuznetov cannot go to sea [the carrier was in fact badly damaged by a huge fire on Dec. 12, 2019]. But let’s just say some miracle happens and the Russians can get her underway,’ says James Shannon, Senior Chief Petty Officer BMCS (SW/AW)(E-8) at United States Navy (1995-present), on Quora.

‘On its latest deployment in 2017 Kuznetsov carried 12 P700 anti-ship missiles, 12 Su-33’s, 6 MiG-29’s and 6 helicopters.

‘A Nimitz-Class aircraft carrier normally carries 48 Super Hornets, 5 Growlers, 3 Hawkeyes, 1–2 COD’s and at least a dozen MH-60S and MH-60R.

‘The kicker for Nimitz-Class aircraft carrier’s aircraft are not just in the numbers. Nimitz-Class aircraft carrier’s Super Hornet’s can launch with full payloads due to have catapults and buddy-stores tanking systems. Kuznetsov’s aircraft are significantly limited in payload due to the need to ski-jump and they have no organic tanking ability.’

Shannon continues;

‘To sum it up the Nimitz-Class aircraft carrier can send 4 complete Strike Fighter Squadrons and 1 Electronic Attack Squadron, fully loaded with full combat radius, with full Airborne Early Warning support and Organic Tanking support.

‘The Nimitz-Class aircraft carrier’s aircraft can hit Kuznetsov from outside of the P700 range and also the range of the Su-33 and MiG-29. Kuznetsov’s surface to air missiles would not be able to reach Reagan’s airwing. Kuznetsov would need to focus its small airwing completely on fighting AAW. The problem is that all of the Nimitz-Class aircraft carrier’s aircraft coming in their vicinity will be capable of AAW, even the Growler’s will have AMRAAM’s.

‘The Nimitz-Class aircraft carrier’s airwing will peel back the Su-33’s and MiG-29’s. The Growlers will then work on electronically disabling Kuznetsov’s fire-control ability (missile guidance). They will do with jamming and decoying, then they will hit Kutnesov with AARGM anti-radiation missiles.

‘Following more slowly behind will be the subsonic anti ship missiles coming from the Super Hornets. 48 Rhino’s in the Airwing, many of them will have either SLAM-ER or LRASM. Kuznetsov probably already expended a fair amount of missile trying to shoot down AARGM’s and Decoys from the Growlers. Kuznetsov will not have much fire-control ability either way. The Nimitz-Class aircraft carrier’s airwing can easily send 50 or so SLAM-ER’s and LRASM’s. It won’t take even half that to put Kuznetsov permanently out of action. Once its disabled and unable to fight, the coup de grace would probably come from 2000 pound laser-guided bombs.’

F/A-18F Super Hornet firing an AIM-120D AMRAAM

F/A-18F Super Hornet loaded for Buddy-Stores Tanking Duty

F/A-18E Super Hornet loaded for ASuW with SLAM-ER

E/A-18G Growler loaded to bead for Jamming, AAW and Anti-Radiation Missiles

E-2D Hawkeye providing AEW support.

Shannon concludes;

‘It really wouldn’t be much of a fight.’

Photo by U.S. Navy and Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation

‘Some components simply can’t be replaced, while others it would be cost-prohibitive and inefficient,’ Andy Burns, Naval Flight Officer

American aircraft carriers at their peak are the queens of the high seas, outclassing even America’s nearest peer competitors. They’re the anchors of US seapower, and have a commensurate price tag, costing billions of dollars to build and thousands of sailors to man.

But even the proudest US Navy ships reach the end of their service life and must be decommissioned.

The question is: would it be possible to keep these vessels in service longer than their programmed life?

‘I served aboard two carriers on their last deployments, Enterprise being one of them, and those boats were worn out and past ready to be put to pasture,’ Andy Burns, former US Navy Surface Warfare & Naval Flight Officer, says on Quora. ‘Enterprise was not “up to date” by the time she was decommed. And their robustness and cost are the reason they’re kept around as long as they are. Sailing thousands of miles of saltwater while flinging planes off the roof is a hard life. Fifty years – programmed life of a CVN – is a long time to be in such service.

‘Some components simply can’t be replaced, while others it would be cost-prohibitive and inefficient. The electrical system, for example; the power requirements changed between the start of Big E’s construction in 1958 and her final cruise in a 2012, on a scale never imagined by her original builders. It doesn’t matter how much power you’re generating if the electrical distribution system can’t handle the increased load.

‘As a ship ages it becomes increasingly difficult to locate spare parts, as manufacturers go out of business or simply stop supporting their very old, defunct product lines. Enterprise had an elevator, for example, for the aircrew to make their way from the ready rooms below the hangar deck up to the flight deck. Sounds extravagant, but you try routinely climbing six floors’ worth of very steep stairs lugging 40 lbs of flight gear. Which is what the crews wound up doing anyway, because the elevator was always broken. The manufacturer had gone out of business decades before and it was impossible to find spare parts.

‘Incidentally, all subsequent US carrier designs put the squadron ready rooms on the O3 level directly beneath the flight deck for that reason.’

Burns concludes;

‘Simply put, nothing lasts forever, even nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.’

‘Seriously – getting an E-2 “up” and in position for launch makes moving everything else around the flight deck more difficult,’ Andy Burns, US Navy Flight Officer with under 1500 hours in the Hawkeye

The all-weather E-2 Hawkeye was the US Navy’s first purpose-built Airborne Early Warning and battle management (AEW&BM) aircraft. The Hawkeye serves as the “eyes” of the US Navy fleet and continuous modifications and upgrades have kept the aircraft’s mission systems current with the evolving operational environment.

Nicknamed the “Hummer” for its distinctive engine sound, the Hawkeye’s prominent radar dish extends radar coverage for hundreds of miles.

Packed with a wide range of communications and sensor gear, the Hawkeye is truly a flying command center able not just to detect, track, and analyze targets but to share data with ships and aircraft in the battlegroup and coordinate weapons employment on dozens of platforms at once.

Usually, the Hawkeye is also the first aircraft to be launched from aircraft carriers at the beginning of day operations. Why?

‘Because the Handler and his minions hate having the E-2 moving around the flight deck. It’s big and bulky, with those two windmills of death just waiting for the unwary,’ says Andy Burns, US Navy Flight Officer with under 1500 hours in the Hawkeye, on Quora.

‘But seriously – getting an E-2 “up” and in position for launch makes moving everything else around the flight deck more difficult. Besides it’s sheer size, since it doesn’t have an Auxiliary Power Unit (APU), the E-2 needs to be supplied with external power until its onboard electrical generators (driven by the engines) are online, and there are only a few places on the flight deck with the necessary “deck edge power” connections.

‘The bow cats have those deck edge power connections nearby, so it’s just easiest to tow the E-2 there, getting it out of the way of all the other jets that need to be moved and “spotted,” before the next launch. When it’s time to start up for the next event, you get the Hummer started, spread, and launched first, and clear the deck for everyone else.

‘Of course, there’s always the risk that the plane will go “down” on the cat, and have to be pulled aft and one of the spare E-2s moved up for launch, in which case you can hear the Handler’s major arteries clanging shut across the ship.

‘So the E-2 is the first aircraft to be launched from carriers not “because the Hawkeye is the long-range eyes of the carrier group,” or to that effect. That’s not wrong, but it’s sort of obsolescent. That’s the Cold War answer, put it that way, when the E-2 had its original mission of defending the Battle Group against long-range Soviet aviation by detecting the bombers and guiding interceptors against them. Fleet air defense is still one of the E-2’s missions but it’s not a primary one anymore. In fact, the official designation for VAW squadrons was changed a couple of years ago, from “Carrier Airborne Early Warning” to “Airborne Command and Control.”’

Burns concludes;

‘The answer to the question of why the E-2 is always the first fixed-wing airborne on any given launch cycle, no matter what else is going on, is because it’s a pain in the ass to have it taxiing around the flight deck and makes it more difficult to move the other airplanes around. That’s really it.’

Photo by U.S. Navy

Despite protests from the Brazil’s Minister for Environment, the Brazilian Navy said on the evening of on Feb. 4, 2023 it had begun to sink the decommissioned aircraft carrier São Paulo, packed with an undetermined amount of asbestos and other toxic materials

Despite protests from the Brazil’s Minister for Environment, the Brazilian Navy said on the evening of on Feb. 4, 2023 it had begun to sink the decommissioned aircraft carrier São Paulo, packed with an undetermined amount of asbestos and other toxic materials, about 220 miles off the country’s northeastern coast.

The news release from the service did not give details of the operation, and it was not clear whether the ship had gone down. Naval officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

On Jan. 13, 2023 a team of technical experts found the former warship in poor condition: as reported by Alert 5 the inspection found a new breach in the vessel, an increase in the flooding level, and corrosion compared to the inspection conducted four months earlier.

The Sao Paulo was under tow 20 nautical miles from the Port of Suape, in Pernambuco.

The Brazilian Navy said they intended to send the vessel to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean by using explosives to open breaches in the ship. This has raised environmental concerns as the former aircraft carrier still have tons of asbestos materials on board.

The aircraft carrier was sold by the Navy to the Turkish shipyard Sök Denizcilik and Ticaret Limited and left Brazil in August last year to be broken up in Turkey.

The decommissioned aircraft carrier has been floating offshore for three months. Since Turkey refused it entry to be scrapped there, the Brazilian Navy said on Feb. 1, 2023 that is had been decided to sink the ship in the Atlantic Ocean in waters under Brazil’s jurisdiction.

As reported by the CNN the Sao Paulo did not get past the Gibraltar straits after having been towed by a tug to Europe. It was returned across the Atlantic after Turkey decided it was an environmental hazard.

The Brazilian Navy explained in a statement that the ship has not been allowed to dock at Brazilian ports because it is taking on water and is at risk of sinking.

The service added that it had no choice but to scuttle the ship in water about 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) deep 350 kilometers (217 miles) off-shore within Brazil’s exclusive economic zone despite a request by Environment Minister Marina Silva not to sink the carrier.

According to the statement the site is far from environmental protection areas and free of undersea communication cables.

“Given its deteriorating floating condition and the inevitability of uncontrolled sinking, there is no other option but to jettison the hull and sink it in a planned way,” it said.

The Navy had planned to scuttle the carrier on Wednesday at sea but public prosecutors sought to stop the sinking in Brazilian waters citing the environmental threat it poses, including tonnes of asbestos used for paneling inside the ship.

A federal judge on Wednesday afternoon denied their request for an injunction arguing that the Navy had weighed the environmental impact against other factors.

According to Navy Recognition, Sao Paulo is a Clemenceau-class aircraft carrier that was first commissioned in 1963 by the French Navy as Foch and was transferred in 2000 to Brazil, where she became the new flagship of the Brazilian Navy. The vessel displaces 32,800 tons, has a length of 265 meters and a crew of 1,920 sailors. It is able to accommodate 39 aircraft: 22 jets and 17 helicopters. In Brazilian Navy service these were: A-4KU Skyhawks (that the Brazilian Navy re-designated AF-1 and AF-1A Falcões), AS 532 SC Cougars, HB 350 & HB.355 Ecureuils, and SH-3 Sea Kings. Photo by Rob Schleiffert Sao Paulo at sea via Wikipedia

Iran’s sectarian naval force is converting a former merchant container ship into a drone aircraft carrier in a dry dock near the entrance to the Persian Gulf

Iran’s sectarian naval force is converting a former merchant container ship into a drone aircraft carrier in a dry dock near the entrance to the Persian Gulf, USNI News reports.

According to USNI News contributor H I Sutton who published satellite and open source photos on his website, “Work is progressing on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps‘ first aircraft carrier (We should ignore the infamous fake aircraft carrier target barge). The 240 meter long drone carrier is based on a large merchant ship hull. Two of the vessels are expected to be built, the Shahid Mahdavi and Shahid Bagheri.”

Sutton adds that “Based on analysis of open sources I believe the first one to be the Shahid-Mahdav (110-3) although it is also being reported in Iranian social media sources as Shahid Bagheri.”

Shahid Mahdavi is a former Iranian-flagged container ship that is getting converted into a warship to carry both helicopter and fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles at the Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries Complex Co (ISOICO) at Bandar Abbas near the Strait of Hormuz, according to November photos.

As reported by The Maritime Executive, Shahid Mahdavi has been in the dry dock since at least May undergoing the conversion from a merchant vessel to a warship.

Sutton says:

‘The conversion adds a large cantilever flight deck on the port (left) side. It is currently unclear whether an overhang will be added to the starboard (right) side also. The fact that the superstructure spans the original deck means that a traditional aircraft carrier layout is not possible. The angles on the added light deck are also not traditional. Possibly this hints at a flight deck running across from port to starboard ahead of the superstructure.’

The Iranian Navy and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGCN) have converted merchant ships that the Iranians have been unable to use due to international sanctions.

According to The Maritime Executive in fact ‘The newly-renamed Shahid Mahdavi wears a coat of haze gray, and she has new gun emplacements on the stern, but open-source intelligence analysts have noticed that her lines are otherwise identical to the Iranian-flagged container ship Sarvin.

‘The Sarvin (ex name Sarita, Dandle, Twelfth Ocean, Iran Isfahan) is a 22-year-old Panamax boxship with a nominal capacity of 3,300 TEU. While she would have considerable value in today’s ultra-tight container ship charter market, her operator is covered by American sanctions on the Iranian maritime sector, preventing her use in most commercial trade lanes.’

Moreover, as told by Sutton, the IRGC also operates a covert base ship in the Red Sea, the freighter Behshad. A previous IRGC base ship, the Saviz, was hit in an attack widely attributed to Israel in 2021.

Photo by H I Sutton

A Chinese carrier strike group involving the aircraft carrier Liaoning and Type 055 missile destroyers has been conducting drills that simulate attacks on Japan’s Nansei Islands since Dec. 16, 2022

Chinese government sources told The Yomiuri Shimbun that a Chinese carrier strike group involving the aircraft carrier Liaoning and Type 055 missile destroyers has been conducting drills that simulate attacks on Japan’s Nansei Islands since Dec. 16, 2022.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is said to have instructed the military to start the drills on the day the Japanese government unveiled three major defense-related documents.

The exercise scheduled to end on Dec. 26 features a unit operating in the western Pacific south of Okinawa Prefecture led by the Chinese Navy’s aircraft carrier Liaoning.

The sources said the exercises also involve Type 055 missile destroyers — advanced vessels capable of ground attacks.

China will reportedly conduct long-range strike drills from waters in the western Pacific, simulating missile launches targeting islands in the Nansei chain, on which Japan is considering deploying missiles. Ship-borne aircraft have already started night landing and takeoff drills.

The Chinese military’s carrier strike group usually holds annual winter exercises around December. This year, Xi designated a start date.

According to Alert 5, the Japanese government approved three national security documents that outlined the reasoning behind Japan’s shift away from an exclusively defensive posture and for doubling defense spending. The three documents are: National Security Strategy (NSS), National Defense Strategy (previously called the National Defense Program Guidelines), Defense Capability Enhancement Plan (previously called the Medium-Term Defense Program).

The carrier strike group, which included the Liaoning and other vessels, was confirmed by the Japanese Defense Ministry to have passed between Okinawa and Miyako islands and entered the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 16. The group sailed 260 kilometers west-southwest of Okidaito Island the following day and was seen 450 kilometers east-northeast of Kitadaito Island on Dec. 20. It was possible, from this location, for ship-borne aircraft to reach the Nansei chain in a time frame of 5 to 10 minutes. Approximately 130 takeoffs and landings by ship-borne aircraft and helicopters were reportedly conducted during the drills.

Strategic bombers will also simulate a pincer attack on Taiwan from the east and west during the drills, according to the sources.

According to the US Defense Department, the Chinese military has adopted a strategy of active defense, which could lead to a preemptive strike on an adversary if Beijing believes it is about to be attacked.

The acquisition of counterattack capabilities is stated in Japan’s security documents and the Xi administration is wary of a large Japanese deployment of missiles on the Nansei Islands.

The Chinese government sources said the aim of the exercises is to undermine Japan’s security strategy against China.

According to the Chinese Defense Ministry, the Chinese Navy also began joint exercises with the Russian Navy off Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, on Wednesday. The ministry said the exercises will include anti-submarine and maritime blockade drills.

The Chinese, in the last decade, grew its capabilities of sustaining operations far from the mainland in its operations in the Gulf of Aden, as well as quickly learned how to integrate new capabilities across its joint forces.

As already reported, a clear photo of People’s Liberation Army Navy Air Force’s (PLANAF) J-35 carrier-capable stealth fighter appeared on Chinese social media in July.

Designed by Shenyang, the twin engine aircraft will be flown by the PLANAF from China’s future Type-003 Fujian-class aircraft carriers.

Although most open sources call it “J-35” or “J-XY, the official designation of China’s new twin-engine stealth fighter aircraft is not known yet, some even calls it a variant of the FC-31. A full-size mock-up of the stealth plane first appeared in June 2021 on a full-sized mock-up of a real Chinese Navy aircraft carrier, located at Wuhan land-based testing facility.

As told above, the aircraft will be operated from the Type-003 Fujian-class aircraft carriers the first of which was launched in June. The Type-003 is China’s biggest most modern and most powerful aircraft carrier. As reported by News18, at 80,000 tons and 318 meters, the Fujian is named after the Chinese province that sits across from Taiwan.

Unlike Liaoning and Shandong, the other two PLAN aircraft carriers, that feature a ski jump (a ramp at the bow of the ship that helps jets take off from the carrier’s short runway), Fujian is reported to have electromagnetic aircraft launch systems (EMALS).

The ski jump launches are extremely restrictive as they impose big constraints on the size, weight and payload of the aircraft being launched. Instead EMALS’ main advantage is that it accelerates the aircraft more smoothly, putting less stress on their airframes. Furthermore, it weighs and costs less and also requires less maintenance than a steam piston-driven system. It also reduces the carrier’s requirement for fresh water, thus reducing the demand for energy-intensive desalination. Most US carriers have steam-driven catapults except the new USS Gerald Ford class.

Photo by U.S. Navy and Weibo

On Apr. 19, 2005, USS America was scuttled southeast of Cape Hatteras. She was the largest warship ever to be sunk

USS America (CVA/CV-66) was one of three Kitty Hawk-class supercarriers built for the US Navy in the 1960s. Commissioned in 1965, she spent most of her career in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, but did make three Pacific deployments serving in the Vietnam War. She also served in the Persian Gulf War’s operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

America was the first large aircraft carrier since Operation Crossroads in 1946 to be expended in weapons tests. In 2005, she was scuttled southeast of Cape Hatteras, after four weeks of tests, despite a large protest of former crew-members who wanted to see her instituted as a memorial museum. She was the largest warship ever to be sunk.

On Apr. 19, 2005, the carrier left Philadelphia under tow on its final mission. The America was towed off the east coast where the ship was finally disposed of during a classified SinkEx.

The USS America is the only supercarrier ever sunk, either on purpose or in combat. Blake Horner, Mechanical Engineer, explains why on Quora “It took four weeks and they ended up having to scuttle her from on board due to her not sinking. She is not only far larger than WWII battleships, but she is also a lot tougher. While she does not have the heavy armor the battleships of yore had, she does have a double layered hull, meaning weapons have to push through alternating layers of steel and empty pockets to reach her internals.

“On top of that, her internal compartmentalization was far better than that of battleships. She is so large, there are so many more rooms that must be filled in order to make her sink than that of a battleship.

“Additionally, thanks to modern technology, most bombs, torpedoes and missiles actually have smaller warheads than what they used against WWII vessels. And in the process of the tests, they were actually using controlled explosives, not actual weapons.

“The whole point of the tests was to make future carriers more survivable, as well as see how warships reacted to underwater explosion and damage. Clearly, after taking a beating for four weeks, they can survive a LOT due to just their sheer bulk. But at the same time, the tests were not meant to truly sink her immediately. Thus, there was no “shoot to kill” mindset of the naval officers conducting the test, versus the whole point of attacking enemy battleships was to sink them.

“America lasted so much longer because A) they were not trying to sink her immediately (though they did end up having to board her to make her sink) and B) her sheer bulk made it a lot harder to sink by being able to absorb damage better than battleships.”

America was planned to be sold for scrapping. However, she was chosen to be a live-fire test and evaluation platform in 2005, to aid the design of future aircraft carriers. There was some objection to a ship being named after the U.S. being deliberately sunk at sea, and a committee of her former crew members and other supporters attempted to save the ship for use as a museum ship. Their efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. In a letter to them, then-Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John B. Nathman explained:

“America will make one final and vital contribution to our national defense, this time as a live-fire test and evaluation platform. America’s legacy will serve as a footprint in the design of future carriers — ships that will protect the sons, daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of America veterans. We will conduct a variety of comprehensive tests above and below the waterline collecting data for use by naval architects and engineers in creating the nation’s future carrier fleet. It is essential we make those ships as highly survivable as possible. When that mission is complete, the America will slip quietly beneath the sea. I know America has a very special place in your hearts, not only for the name, but also for your service aboard her. I ask that you understand why we selected this ship for this one last crucial mission and make note of the critical nature of her final service.”

Horner concludes:

“Economically, it was the smallest loss to the original cost ratio versus any of the Nimitz class, or even it’s sister ships of the Kitty Hawk class (USS America never really went through the Navy’s Carrier Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) and therefore, the ship was in bad shape during its last years of service. In the early 1990s the America even had one of her flight deck elevators fall with an S-3B aircraft and several blueshirts on it. Additionally, the carrier suffered steam and fuel leaks and – also in the early 1990s, returning home from deployment – the carrier cut through a Hurricane destroying large parts of the flight deck catwalks.). America was conventionally powered, meaning they did not have to worry about the nuclear radiation of a Nimitz class. It was of similar size and design to the Nimitz so they could learn just as much as they would from sinking one of those in preparation for the Ford class. There were no plans for using her as a potential reactivation ship (one that could come back to service) or as a museum, as she was in very bad condition in comparison to her sisters. It resulted that the potential benefits far outweighed the loss, as the lessons learned from sinking her would allow the Navy to perfect the Gerald R. Ford class, which was under development. It was just a logical decision in allowing the vessel to serve in one last capacity, without having to pay for tearing her apart or letting her sit as a museum. And hopefully, it worked.”

Photo by Photographer’s Mate 2nd Class Michael Sandberg / U.S. Navy