Atomic attack aircraft carrier - the world's largest dreadnought

Criteria for assessing the military power of the state are changing, but the country's combat - ready navy remains unchanged. For the past century, the symbol of the "big stick", which can be hit even across the ocean, is an aircraft carrier. The world's largest ship of this type is in the arsenal of the American fleet. Or rather, there are ten of them, one type. The series "Nimitz" began.

The Nimitz series

Despite the general idea of the initial project, the ships of one series can differ substantially depending on the year of launching. Nevertheless, the main parameters, namely displacement (102 thousand tons), air wing composition (about 70 units), crew size (up to 6 thousand people), power plant capacity (280 thousand liters p.) And speed (up to 30 knots) for all ships of the Nimitz class are approximately the same. The series includes ten ships, the last of which is named in honor of US President George Bush Sr., who served in the war as a pilot.

Such a huge amount of expensive metal, which is given militant forms, makes a huge impression. However, it should be borne in mind that the purpose of this armada is to be able to concentrate aviation forces near the coasts of states whose armies are not able to seriously interfere.

Enterprise

At the end of 2012 another aircraft carrier was withdrawn from combat duty, the largest in the world, at least in length. The Enterprise had a displacement slightly smaller than Nimitz (93.4 thousand tons), but a higher speed (34 knots). On its deck and in the below-hangar hangar could be up to 90 aircraft. He served in the US Navy for more than half a century, took an active part in the Vietnam War and even suffered losses, though not as a result of the combat effects of the enemy's anti-ship systems, but because of operational disruptions that caused the accidental launch of an aerial missile, an explosion and a spill of burning kerosene.

North Vietnam did not have the opportunity to strike at large naval targets in the late sixties, but if such a task became urgent, there is no doubt that the Soviet Union would be able to supply its regional ally with the appropriate types of weapons with which it could be brought to the bottom Even the largest aircraft carrier. The United States made the bulk of the air raids by raising bombers from ground bases.

Big ship - a large torpedo!

In the famous fantasy novel Belyaev (on the hyperboloid) there is a scene of the destruction by engineer Garin of a large squadron. Magnat Rolling is shocked by the death of what he still considered to be the embodiment of military power. He does not understand how this could happen. About the same emotions experienced and Americans, learning about the "black Thursday" during the Korean War. Then the B-29 bombers, most recently symbolizing the invincibility of the US Air Force, were powerless to confront a flock of small, fast and brisk MiGs that appeared as if from nowhere and disappeared without knowing where, leaving behind them only smoky trails of "flying fortresses" falling from the sky.

How effective will an aircraft carrier be in the 21st century? The world's largest ship can be brought to the shore of the country, for some reason refusing to follow the policies acceptable to America and frighten the population living in it. But if the army of this state has several Iskander complexes, will the aircraft-carrying group suffer the sad fate of the "flying fortresses" in the Korean sky? And is the military doctrine of the "big stick" obsolete?

The fate of aircraft carriers in Russia

Perhaps there are considerations on which we do not even try to build the largest aircraft carrier. In Russia, the protection of one's own interests is often asymmetric. Recent events in the Black Sea, in particular, demonstrated the possibility of our aircraft (obviously, not only them) to remotely disable enemy air defenses with the help of a compact and inexpensive (in comparison with the ship) electronic countermeasure equipment. You do not need to be a science fiction writer to imagine the consequences of such an impact on a large aircraft carrier group. Any aircraft carrier, the largest in the world, the most modern and powerful, without having the ability to repulse an attack from the air, will turn into just a big target, on which any, not even the most modern aircraft, with impunity will "work out their punches."

It is because of the uselessness that the domestic "Admiral Kuznetsov", built in the USSR, apparently will remain alone. It is really too expensive, uneconomical, and in combat conditions it may not be very effective. Russia has other, more economical and effective ways of combating aircraft-carrying compounds.