The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 686 New Strategic Nuclear Submarine

The subsequent Type 094 strategic nuclear submarine has the main difference that it uses two 55000-horsepower nuclear reactors and has vertical missile launch tubes.

The Type 094 strategic nuclear submarine is 171.5 meters long, 24.6 meters wide, and has a draft of 15 meters. It has a surface displacement of 18500 tons and an underwater displacement of 26500 tons. It has a maximum diving depth of 650 meters and a double hull. It has a maximum speed of 20 knots on the water and 30 knots underwater. It has a self-sustaining capacity of 120 days and a crew of 155.

In terms of weapon systems, it is mainly equipped with a missile vertical launch system and supplemented by torpedo tubes. It has 28 submarine-launched ballistic missile vertical missile systems, 4 torpedo tubes, and decoy missile launchers.

The Type 094 strategic nuclear submarine is absolutely worthy of the word "strategic". It has a strong icebreaking capability and can perform missions in the Arctic or Antarctic.

It can be said that the Type 094 strategic nuclear submarine was developed on the basis of the Type 093 attack nuclear submarine. The two are identical in radar system, sonar system, underwater combat system, etc. Even the nuclear reactor is the only difference, the Type 093 attack nuclear submarine has only one, while the Type 094 strategic nuclear submarine has two.

After staying at the 719 Institute for a while, Liu Tao left only after other experts had mastered the technology.

Next, a special department will organize these experts to go to the Yangcheng Shipyard to start construction at the Yangcheng Shipyard.

As for why they did not choose other places, it was because the processing equipment and docks in other places did not meet the standards, while Yangcheng Shipyard has the strongest shipbuilding capabilities in the country.

Compared with places like Dalian Shipyard, Yangcheng Shipyard can also avoid being detected. After all, places like Dalian Shipyard are too close to the naval bases of Japan and the United States.

But the Yangcheng Shipyard is different, it is very safe now.

Although Liu Tao will also participate in the construction of Type 093 attack nuclear submarines and Type 094 strategic nuclear submarines, this is more to obtain upgrade points and ensure the quality of construction.

There is still at least one year left before the construction of the Type 093 attack nuclear submarine and the Type 094 strategic nuclear submarine. Now only the research and development has been completed. The next step is preparation, layout, technology upgrade, etc., all of which take time.

Liu Tao shifted his attention to the aircraft carrier.

Although it is just a light aircraft carrier, equivalent to the British "Invincible" class aircraft carrier, there are still a lot of things involved.

It’s not a problem with steel. The steel hull only needs to use the steel of the Type 052 destroyer. The only problem to be solved is the flight deck.

Today's aircraft carriers are different from previous ones because the take-off and landing speeds of their carrier-based aircraft are completely different from before.

The flight deck of an aircraft carrier has to withstand the strong impact load when the aircraft lands, so it must be made of high-strength steel plates.

While the flight decks of aircraft carriers during World War II only needed to be covered with a layer of wood, the flight decks of modern aircraft carriers must be made of metal.

Many people would say that the West was able to build aircraft carriers in large quantities during World War II, but now China cannot even build a single aircraft carrier, which shows that China’s shipbuilding industry cannot even compare with the great powers such as Britain and the United States during World War I.

In fact, this statement is completely wrong, because there is a huge difference between modern aircraft carriers and previous aircraft carriers.

It would be an understatement to say they are worlds apart.

The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is mainly used for parking and taking off and landing of carrier-based aircraft. In order to park as many aircraft as possible and to minimize interference when the aircraft take off and land, the aircraft carrier needs to use a flight deck that is much larger than the width of the hull.

The space on the deck determines the number of aircraft that the carrier can put into combat at one time, and the size of the deck depends largely on the displacement of the carrier.

The largest number of fighter jets on an aircraft carrier are air superiority and attack aircraft. In addition, there are also mission support aircraft for sea and air search, electronic countermeasures, aerial refueling, logistics and rescue. Therefore, if you want an aircraft carrier to truly exert its power, it must at least be a medium-sized aircraft carrier, and it would be best if it could be a large aircraft carrier.

Therefore, the United States and the Soviet Union are now developing large aircraft carriers.

For this reason, Liu Tao has always advocated that China is not suitable for building aircraft carriers now, because it must at least build a medium-sized aircraft carrier, or a medium-sized aircraft carrier with a displacement of 5 to 6 tons. Of course, if it is ordered by Thailand, it doesn't matter.

People require a light aircraft carrier, so naturally we will design a light aircraft carrier for them.

The money is paid by others, and China can take advantage of this opportunity to join forces and build an industrial chain for aircraft carriers, and the profits involved are huge.

As always, Liu Tao chose to build a ship model first. He designed a similar ship model based on the data and photos published by the British "Invincible" class aircraft carrier.

As long as the ship model does not sink immediately when placed in the sea, and as long as it can sail, he can use the golden finger to improve the hull step by step. After the hull is solved, he can then solve the protection system, power system, ship-borne missiles, ship-borne aircraft, ship-borne electronics and other aspects.

Take a cyclical approach and solve the problem step by step.

The most difficult ones here are the hull design and the carrier-based aircraft.

This was Liu Tao's first time building an aircraft carrier, and China had never developed an aircraft carrier before, so everything had to start from scratch.

There are many mysteries involved here. In a sense, the hull largely determines the performance of the aircraft carrier.

The other is carrier-based aircraft, whether it is carrier-based fighter jets or carrier-based armed helicopters!
China is at a very low level when it comes to helicopters. Although it has imported a number of "Black Hawk" helicopters and is also working on imitation projects, the performance of the imitation helicopters is far from satisfactory.

Liu Tao didn't dare to use the imitation helicopter as a ship-borne helicopter, as that would damage his reputation.

So, he planned to develop a special offshore helicopter.

As for carrier-based aircraft, the J-10 and J-11 fighters are not suitable as fighters for light aircraft carriers, unless a new engine is developed that can directly allow the J-10 and J-11 fighters to perform vertical take-off and landing.

This type of light aircraft carrier is destined to have short-takeoff/vertical take-off and landing fighters on board.

Short take-off/vertical landing fighters, this will limit the performance of carrier-based fighters.

But, there are gains and losses, nothing is perfect!
Since it is a light aircraft carrier, we cannot have too high requirements on the performance of carrier-based aircraft.

However, China does not have a short-takeoff/vertical take-off and landing fighter like this, which means Liu Tao has to develop a carrier-based fighter from scratch.

Compared with these, the protection system, power system, shipborne missiles and shipborne electronics are not a problem.

After leaving Jiangcheng, Liu Tao went to the Three Gorges first. After the construction of the Three Gorges Dam officially started, it has always been one of the focuses of public opinion.

The benefits will be felt in the present and for future generations!
This is the main tone of the official media!
But we did not interfere with dissenting voices. After all, China is a country that values ​​democracy, and there is no need to be banned or forced to commit suicide for expressing different opinions.

If you don't argue, you won't understand the truth. Having disputes is a good thing.

Because it is the flood season, the construction work started is not on the dam, but on the ship lock!

The construction diversion method of the Three Gorges Dam is phased diversion. The construction process is to divert the water first, then cut off the water, then build the cofferdam, drain the foundation pit, and finally achieve waterless construction conditions. The construction backflow plan is "three-phase diversion and open channel navigation".

To be able to do this, we have to credit the clever site selection of the Three Gorges Dam, which created this condition.

(End of this chapter)