.Chapter 40

After gaining a comprehensive understanding of the basic situation of the navy, Mu Haoyang also borrowed information from the Japanese Navy.

Compared with the Chinese Navy, the construction purpose of the Japanese Navy is more clear.

When the overall strength is not as good as the opponent, the Japanese Navy focused all on the fleet and basically did not consider the ability to deliver troops.

This is understandable. As an island country, Japan must first consider controlling the sea power.

Only after gaining control of the sea can Japan ensure local security and be able to use control of the sea to send troops overseas.

When the sea power cannot be kept, it is meaningless to build a strong Marine Corps.

In fact, the size of the Japanese Marine Corps is very small, with only about 30,000 people, and the combat troops have only four land brigades with less than 5,000 people.

In combat use, the main task of these four land brigades is to guard the outer island.

Unlike China, Japan bets almost all its bets on the navy. That is to say, Japan can use more military spending to build a powerful fleet.

It must be admitted that this is a very obvious advantage.

In the Japanese Navy, the core force is still an aircraft carrier, and it is the "Flying Dragon"-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier under construction.

According to the information obtained by the Second Department, the "Flying Dragon" class will be built in two batches. The first batch of "Flying Dragon" and "Aolong" were launched in Kobe and Osaka Shipyards in 2030. It is expected to be completed in early 2033 and will be put into service at the end of 2033. The second batch of "Shokawa" and "Ruihe" (the same name as the two small aircraft carriers that sank during the First Indian Ocean War) were also launched at the end of 2031. The installation progress is much faster than the first batch and is expected to be completed in 2033 and is expected to be put into service in 2034.

However, the Second Ministry mentioned in another information that Japan is likely to increase the number of "Flying Dragon" constructions.

If Kobe Shipyard and Osaka Shipyard have no other large warship construction tasks, then at the end of 2032, the Japanese Navy is likely to add two orders, or even four orders at a time. Because the "Flying Dragon" class also adopts the modular design concept, the construction of the basic hull and mission modules can be carried out at the same time. According to the analysis of the Second Department, with Japan's shipbuilding capabilities and four ships that have been built, the third batch of "Flying Dragon" class can be shortened to within two years, or even reduced to one and a half years. In this way, the third batch of "Flying Dragon" class is likely to be launched between mid-2034 and the end of 2034. If everything goes well, these aircraft carriers are likely to be equipped in 2035. As long as the crew training problem is solved, it is possible to enter service in 2035.

Of course, this is the best situation in peacetime.

If the threat of war approaches, Japan will definitely expand its naval fleet wildly, and it is possible to acquire two or even four super aircraft carriers before the war breaks out.

If this is true, this is definitely a huge threat to the Chinese Navy.

You should know that by 2035, the Chinese Navy had only six aircraft carriers that could operate at most, and two of them were medium-sized aircraft carriers.

Fortunately, the "Flying Dragon" level is not as powerful as imagined.

During the project review stage, Japan hoped to receive technical assistance from the United States, and even proposed to purchase design drawings for the "Ford" class aircraft carrier from the United States, and spent huge amounts of money to introduce some key technologies, such as nuclear reactors for ships. As a result, the United States has set too high technical thresholds and failed to get what it wants.

Japan then turned to the UK and managed to obtain the technical support necessary to build large aircraft carriers from the UK.

At the same time, Japan invested nearly US$40 billion in the ship-use nuclear reactor project and developed a natural cycle reactor with a power of 100 megawatts, meeting the basic requirements for equipping a 100,000-ton aircraft carrier. Based on this, it began to design the "Flying Dragon"-class aircraft carrier.

At this point, the United States changed its mind and expressed its willingness to provide Japan with the necessary technology to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

However, the United States only agreed to provide basic technology for the Nimitz class. The reason is very simple. The Ford class is the main aircraft carrier of the US Navy, and the Nimitz class is an eliminated product. The last Nimitz class, namely the Bush, is expected to go through 2045, ten years ahead of its design service life. When Japan began to design the Feilong class, there were only six Nimitz class in service in the US Navy, and the Roosevelt was also a training aircraft carrier, dismantling all electronic equipment used for combat.

The problem is that Japan cannot come up with a better design plan than the "Nimitz" level.

You should know that before this, the "Akagi" adopted the "Kitsui"-level technical level, but it only used new equipment on some systems.

Even if Japan can design a large aircraft carrier separately, it will not be more advanced than the "Nimitz" class.

The key is that the technical support provided by the UK does not include the nuclear power part. That is to say, the Japanese Navy has no idea how to design a nuclear powered warship.

After bargaining, in early 2027, Japan obtained the "Nimitz"-level design blueprint.

Subsequently, with the help of American engineers, Kobe Shipyard, which undertakes the main construction task, made improvements to the "Nimitz"-class design drawings.

This is the basic appearance of the "Flying Dragon" level.

It must be admitted that after improvement, the combat capability of the "Flying Dragon" class must have exceeded that of the "Nimitz". For example, in the power system, the "Flying Dragon" class nuclear reactor comes from the A5W, rather than the A4W used by the "Nimitz" class. Not only does the output power increase to 125 megawatts, but the core life is also extended to 35 years, basically reaching the maximum design life of the hull.

In terms of flight deck layout, the "Flying Dragon" class is also closer to the "Ford" class. For example, there are only three aircraft elevators, two of which are located in front of the starboard island and the third one is located on the port side. In terms of the catapult setting, because the latest electromagnetic catapult is used, the catapult efficiency has been increased by one third, so it has been reduced to three. There is only one catapult at the front end of the oblique deck, ensuring that when recycling fighters, the dispatch rate of two thirds can still be achieved under normal circumstances, greatly improving the combat efficiency of the carrier-based aviation.

To put it vividly, the "Flying Dragon" class is a "Nimitz"-level improved type with a "Ford"-level appearance.

In terms of comprehensive combat capabilities, the "Flying Dragon" level is far inferior to the "Ford" level.

For example, in the setting of hangars and ammunition depots, if the improvement is made in the Ford class, the internal structure of the hull must be fully adjusted, and the workload is not as high as redesigning an aircraft carrier, and the United States cannot help Japan design such an advanced aircraft carrier. The result is that due to the setting of hangars and ammunition depots, the aviation dispatch efficiency of the "Flying Dragon" class is only slightly improved than that of the "Nimitz" class, and the biggest difference between the "Ford" class and the "Nimitz" class lies in the aviation dispatch efficiency, which can be said to be a world of difference.

Under normal circumstances, the "Flying Dragon" class has a capacity of about ninety aircraft. If the number of multi-purpose fighters is increased and the number of fighters is tied on the flight deck can be increased to 120 aircraft when necessary, but the dispatch efficiency will inevitably be greatly reduced.

In terms of aviation combat efficiency, the "Flying Dragon" class is not much different from the "Yangtze River" class.

For example, when the "tidal operation method" is adopted, the design indicator of the "Flying Dragon" class is to dispatch forty-eight fighter jets at a time, while the "Yangtze River" class can reach forty aircraft, and has passed practical tests. In terms of continuous dispatch ability, the daily momentum of the "Flying Dragon" class is 220, while the "Yangtze River" class is 200, and even 240 aircraft in high-intensity combat operations.

Compared with the "Kunlun Mountain" level, the "Flying Dragon" level is far behind.

Under normal circumstances, the Kunlun Mountain class can dispatch forty-eight fighter jets at a time. After adopting the "tidal operation method", sixty aircraft can be dispatched. Without affecting the continuous combat, the daily momentum of the Kunlun Mountain class is 240 aircraft, with a maximum of more than 300 aircraft.

From the perspective of aviation combat capabilities, the "Flying Dragon" level is approximately 65% ​​of the "Kunlun Mountain" level.

In other words, only the six "Flying Dragon" class can match the four "Kunlun Mountain" class.

If the two "Yangtze River" class are included, the Chinese Navy has only six aircraft carriers, its naval combat capability is no worse than that of the Japanese Navy, which has eight aircraft carriers.

Of course, it is still a big question whether the Japanese Navy can build eight aircraft carriers before the outbreak of the war.

In this way, the "Achihe" becomes crucial.

If the Japanese Navy cannot first build the third batch of "Flying Dragon" class, in the 2035 war, the "Akagi" will become the key force in the balance between the left and right battlefields. To put it bluntly, if the Japanese Navy sends the "Akagi" to the Indian Ocean, he will not be able to gain a military advantage in the Western Pacific.

To this end, when building the "Flying Dragon" class, the Japanese Navy spent a lot of effort to improve the "Akagi".

The focus is to improve the aviation combat capabilities of the Akagi.

Because the basic design of the Nimitz class comes from the Kitty Hawk class and the Akagi is based on the Kitty Hawk class, when improving the Akagi, the Japanese Navy made a lot of use of the technology to build the "Flying Dragon" class development, such as replacing it with a brand new flight deck.

The result is that the "Akagi" has become the conventional power version of the "Flying Dragon" class.

In addition to the lack of endurance and continuous combat capability, in other aspects, the "Akagi" is no less than the "Flying Dragon" level. If it is in the Western Pacific, and the sea control is the main focus, the endurance and continuous combat capability are not a big problem. The key is how the fleet commander applies it.

It can be seen that even if conservatively estimated, the Japanese Navy will have five large aircraft carriers by 2035.

Because the Chinese Navy has two medium-sized aircraft carriers, from the books, the Japanese Navy at least tied the Chinese Navy and had enough ability to severely damage the naval battles and even defeated the Chinese Navy.

However, aircraft carriers are not the only combat force in fleet operations.
Chapter completed!