Chapter 1179 Eagle Strike Aircraft Carrier

Chapter 1179 Eagle Strike Aircraft Carrier

May 25, 1915.

Ernst rarely leaves his "home base" Rhine City. This time Ernst will go to the Pemba Bay Shipyard in East Africa.

Different from Ernst’s other itineraries, this time Ernst’s inspection of the Pemba Bay Shipyard was relatively low-key, with no media or grand welcome ceremony arranged.

May 26, 1915, ten o'clock in the morning.

Ernst arrived in the city of Pemba.

Aaron, the chief designer of Pemba Bay Shipyard, who had already received the news, personally led the way to the place where the aircraft carrier was berthed.

At 10:40, Ernst's convoy arrived at the East African Military Port in Pemba Bay, and the Eagle Strike aircraft carrier was lying quietly in the berth.

Ernst was quite excited when he looked at this sea monster parked in the East African military port, although this domestically produced aircraft carrier did not seem to fit the image of an aircraft carrier in his impression.

However, Ernst also understands that this is not the 21st century after all, and it is already very difficult for East African researchers to create such a sea monster without a reference.

Aaron introduced to Ernst on the side: "Your Majesty, this is the Eagle Strike aircraft carrier we named according to your request."

Ernst was very satisfied with the word "eagle strike". The eagle struck the sky, fish flew to the shallow bottom, and all kinds of frost sky competed for freedom.

In the previous life, the Far Eastern Empire named a certain series of missiles "Eagle Strike", so this does not conflict with East Africa naming its aircraft carrier "Eagle Strike".

Moreover, aircraft carriers themselves use carrier-based aircraft as a means of attack, so the term "eagle strike" is more suitable. Combined with the sentence "fish flies shallow bottom", Ernst believes that in the future, East Africa will need to occupy a place for the name of East African submarines.

Aaron continued: "It took us six full years of continuous experiments and demonstrations to finally build the USS Eagle Strike aircraft carrier. Its full load displacement is more than 14,000 tons, the standard displacement is more than 12,000 tons, and it is 180 meters long. Thirteen meters, 24 meters wide, with a speed of 22 knots, and uses fuel as its power source.”

"Very good!" Ernst commented. At least from the appearance, it is much more attractive than those aircraft carriers transformed from freighters. Otherwise, East African researchers would not have spent six years to build this steel aircraft carrier. Behemoth built.

Of course, it is not very appropriate to describe East Africa's first aircraft carrier as a steel behemoth. This adjective is more suitable for East Africa's battleships.

It can be seen from the displacement of the Eagle Strike that it is still a bit small compared with those aircraft carriers in previous generations that often weighed tens of thousands of tons, or even more than 100,000 tons.

Most of the battleships in East Africa have a displacement greater than the Eagle Strike aircraft carrier. After all, there is no reference, so the design tends to be conservative.

However, Ernst pointed out that the appearance of this aircraft carrier is above the passing line, such as the island located on the right side of the deck.

"Let's go up and have a look!" Ernst said.

Aaron and other scientific researchers naturally lived up to their orders, and soon Ernst came to the deck under their guidance.

Ernst noticed the aircraft, or carrier-based aircraft, on the Eagle Strike aircraft carrier at first sight. In Ernst's mind, the more carrier-based aircraft a carrier has, the stronger its combat effectiveness will naturally be.

So he asked: "How many carrier-based aircraft can the Eagle Strike carry?"

Aaron replied: "Your Majesty, the Eagle Strike aircraft carrier can carry up to twenty-four carrier-based aircraft. It is equivalent to a mobile apron on the sea. With the help of these carrier-based aircraft, it can quickly complete the take-off and landing of aircraft, thereby achieving Continuous, long-range strikes against enemy ships."

At this time, Ernst suddenly noticed something, that is, the deck seemed to be made of wood. Although he also knew that early aircraft carriers used wooden decks in his previous life, the fact that the first aircraft carrier in East Africa used wooden decks still made him feel a bit strange.

He said to Aaron: "Why does the Eagle Strike aircraft carrier use wooden decks instead of steel and other materials?"

Aaron said: "Wooden decks have many advantages such as non-slip, moisture-proof, and heat insulation, which are especially important in humid and hot seas. In East Africa, whether it is the local offshore or overseas territories, most of them are concentrated in tropical seas and the Indian Ocean. The South Ocean, the Central Pacific and the South Atlantic all fit this profile."

"So based on the activity area of ​​our navy, it is reasonable to use wooden decks. Of course, we have also tried to use other materials, but due to time constraints, we are not satisfied yet."

"For example, according to our experiments and calculations, if an aircraft carrier uses a steel flight deck to perform missions in most of my country's sea areas, the deck surface may quickly rise to more than 60 degrees in a short period of time. After all, steel absorbs heat. Soon, it will be easier to get wet and hot on the sea. If the steel is not specially treated, it will easily slip. The high temperature will also greatly reduce the service life of the aircraft tires and may lead to the risk of tire blowout. The corresponding wooden deck is more Conducive to the safety of aircraft taking off and landing.”

"The steel deck is not without its advantages. For example, it has excellent protection. However, it is easy to deform once it is attacked. According to the current stage of technology, it must be returned to the port for a long time to be repaired, and the wooden deck is damaged. After the attack, it can be repaired quickly, and a series of repair work can be completed on the aircraft carrier.”

"The use of wooden decks can effectively reduce weight and improve the stability and seaworthiness of warships. my country's first-generation aircraft carriers obviously still have many deficiencies in experience and design, so for the sake of safety, the use of wooden decks naturally makes sense."

Ernst probably understood some of the tricks, after all, he had more experience, but some East African officials did not understand.

At this time, an East African naval officer asked: "Mr. Aaron, if this wooden deck is attacked by artillery, it will easily ignite and collapse, right?"

Aaron said calmly: "This is related to the combat mode of the aircraft carrier. From the beginning, we did not intend to let it go head-to-head with battleships and other attack ships. The positioning of the aircraft carrier is a long-range strike mode with a combat distance exceeding the range of the ship's guns."

"With the aircraft carrier as the core, and the carrier-based aircraft responsible for the strike activities against enemy ships, it is obvious that the carrier-based aircraft has a small target and is in the sky. Imagine if you face these flying in the sky and carrying bombs, the target Which battleship would not have a headache with a small carrier-based aircraft! "

The navy officer asked without giving up: "What if the enemy ships get close?"

Aaron said: "Aircraft carriers never fight alone, but to form a powerful combat system. According to our concept, frigates, destroyers and other ships are also needed to escort the aircraft carriers, so that the aircraft carriers themselves can be effectively prevented from having direct conflicts with enemy ships. "

Of course, as Aaron said, if an aircraft carrier wants to form a combat system, the investment is definitely indispensable. Apart from other things, the research and development of related supporting ships alone will have to be built on the ground.

At present, the Eagle Strike aircraft carrier obviously has no other supporting ships except itself and its carrier-based aircraft, which means that the Eagle Strike has not formed a complete combat system.

Of course, it is not impossible for the Eagle Strike to fight alone, but it is not safe and it is not easy to achieve results.

The Navy obviously cannot fully accept the aircraft carrier. After all, the emergence of aircraft carriers is a break from convention. It is a completely new combat system, the core of which is the aircraft carrier. All the activities of ships are centered on the aircraft carrier, and then achieve ideal results.

Of course, no matter what the Navy thinks, Ernst is generally satisfied with the Eagle Strike aircraft carrier, and Ernst knows that aircraft carriers will become important main battleships at sea in the future, so East Africa cannot give up the research and development of aircraft carriers.

However, the Eagle Strike aircraft carrier obviously has many problems, such as its wooden deck. Although Aaron said that wooden decks have many advantages, with the development of the times and technology, wooden decks will eventually be eliminated, so East Africa has only taken the first step now, and there is still a long way to go for the future East African aircraft carrier.