What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 227 Tiger (4600 monthly votes in March)

Murmansk.

Old Zhang walked on the open ground of the port, frowning as he pondered how to break the deadlock.

The Russians do not agree to import subsystems separately; if the technology is needed, it must be included as an add-on to the ship purchase contract.

Deep down, he has never agreed with the introduction of the Sovremenny-class destroyer, because the Type 052, which entered service domestically after a few years of development, could meet the standards of the Sovremenny-class.

Moreover, the time from the signing of the purchase contract to the return of the ship to China was not much earlier than that of the Type 052 destroyer, not to mention the astonishing price.

He turned to look at the rows of heavy, gray warships moored beside him, their surfaces piled with snowflakes, giving them a somber, historical feel.

One of the large ships was the Baku, which has now been renamed the Colossus.

After the deposit was paid, the design team began to re-survey and study the renovation plan. On snowy days, you can even see people walking on it.

Old Zhang couldn't help but sigh, thinking to himself that he had wasted who knows how much money he had spent.

drip.

He picked up the phone; it was his assistant's voice.

"Director, Tomohiro Uchimura has contacted us again. He has agreed to continue the transaction for that machine tool on the condition that we stop framing him!"

"What accusations are you making against me? What are you trying to frame?"

Old Zhang looked completely bewildered, while his assistant on the other end of the phone exclaimed in surprise:
"Don't you know?"

"Should I know?"

"Didn't you do it?"

"Wait, I understand!"

After hanging up the phone, Lao Zhang decisively dialed Tang Wen's number.

……

Bai Hantao and several teachers spent a long time discussing it, repeatedly confirming with Tang Wen whether selecting it would guarantee success.

Faced with the densely packed list of aircraft carriers, the group was constantly struggling with their decision.

Logically speaking, tonnage is king; the bigger the better.

However, these are all very old models. To meet most of the training needs of modern naval forces, they must be modernized, and personnel issues must also be considered.

After much deliberation, they finally came to an answer.

"Still Bumblebee?"

Tang Wen received their research results and asked curiously:
Yorktown is fine too, it's all the same anyway.

Bai Hantao corrected.

Among a large number of aircraft carriers, they ultimately hesitated between the Yorktown or the Hornet, and the Ark Royal.

Yorktown and Hornet are aircraft carriers of the same class. Yorktown's advantage is its large displacement, which is almost the limit that shipyards can accommodate. After being modified, it is no weaker than Type 011.

The Royal Ark was Britain's first proper fleet aircraft carrier, hailed as the beginning of modern aircraft carriers, although its displacement was considerably smaller.

If you're going to use a jet engine, a larger platform is better.

Indeed, this is true; the renovation plans for Yorktown and Bumblebee are clearly much more practical.

Although 011 was also based on the Hornet, Tang Wen's modification plan this time was different:
The design of 011 was rushed, and it only involved a simple three-pronged approach. Overall, it still needs a significant internal upgrade before it can be used properly.

The new renovation plan is different:
-
The entire ship's electronic systems were upgraded to almost the level of the mid-50s, with a significant increase in automation and the addition of a large number of electronic devices and new radars typically found only on later aircraft carriers;
The island was moved aft, and the original layout of one elevator each fore and aft on the starboard island was changed to two elevators at the front. In addition, an elevator was added to the port angled deck.
-
The length and width of the angled runway have been increased. The original 180 meters was not friendly enough for beginners, so it has been increased to 200 meters, with the width also increased by 5 meters, while maintaining the 8-degree angle of inclination.
Because the extended angled deck encroaches on the forward space, only one BS4 catapult is retained at the front, with the second one laid on the angled deck.

This renovation represents a significant upgrade compared to the 011, featuring more and more functional elevators, safer takeoffs and landings, updated electronic systems, and a more rational cabin layout. The hangar is expected to accommodate 16 A4 Skyhawk attack aircraft and 8 F8 Crusader fighters, as well as approximately 4 helicopters.

If deck mooring is considered and only angled deck catapults are used, a maximum of 30 fixed-wing aircraft can be operated.

In comparison, the smaller HMS Ark Royal had a smaller deck area, making it inconvenient to install angled decks. It could only retain a straight flight deck and a single steam catapult.

Although it was still sufficient, Bai Hantao was still somewhat dissatisfied with it and ultimately chose the new renovation project based on Yorktown.

Tang Wen also liked the Yorktown-class cars, so the deal was finalized.

Bai Hantao: "Now that we have an aircraft carrier, what kind of carrier-based aircraft will we use?"

"It's the drawing on the modification table."

"A4 and F8?"

Bai Hantao paused for a moment, then said:
"The A4 is very good, but the F8 is probably not very easy to use, especially for beginners."

This was the first time Tang Wen had heard such a statement, so he listened as Bai Hantao continued:
"This aircraft has good performance, but its landing gear is too short and its takeoff and landing performance is poor. A few years ago, the company bought 42 of them, and 25 of them were damaged due to their poor takeoff and landing performance."

How many?

Tang Wen shuddered. This loss rate was over 50%, it was practically a widow maker.

French pilots must be pretty good; they've lost so many. How many of those self-taught pilots from the Bay Area must have crashed and died?
"F8 is not working!"

Tang Wen immediately dropped F8 from the list of options, then asked Bai Hantao:

"Then which supersonic jet carrier-based aircraft has better takeoff and landing performance?"

"Of course, it's the F-14!"

"Let's get realistic."

"If all else fails, it'll be F4. That's about it."

Bai Hantao shrugged. In the early days, due to a lack of experience in aircraft design, supersonic aircraft relied on increasing the sweep of the wings and reducing the wing area to reduce drag, which naturally weakened takeoff and landing performance.

Only the F-4 Phantom with its delta wing and the F-14 Tomcat with its variable-sweep wing can handle both high and low speeds, and their takeoff and landing performance is still acceptable.

In fact, Tang Wen was capable of building F4, specifically the 59 "Phantom II" F4H-1.

But this thing has a problem: its empty weight is 14 tons, which is close to the upper limit of the BS4's catapult, so in short, it can't launch.

Developing a new catapult requires too much experience; it would be better to go straight to the same C13 as the Kitty Hawk in the future.

Is there a way to avoid using a catapult?

Tang Wen looked at the sketches of the new renovation plan, and the modernized Yorktown appeared before his eyes, its bow slowly curving upwards.

So... it still has to stick up?
However, for the 30,000-ton Yorktown to take off like the F4 Phantom via ski-jump, it would probably have to start its run from the stern.

Tang Wen searched the vast database again, filtering by weight and speed, and found a new model:

F11F-1F "Tiger" fighter jet.

It briefly appeared in the Imperial Navy, mainly for supersonic testing. Its maximum takeoff weight was only 10 tons, and it could fly at speeds of over Mach 1.7.

Its existence was so obscure that Tang Wen overlooked it.

The only impression I have is that this thing once set a record: the plane caught up with the cannonball after firing it, thus becoming the first plane to be hit by its own cannon.

However, this thing doesn't seem to be very well-known. If it's not good either, then I'll just have to make do with A4 paper for a while.

(End of this chapter)