Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 248 Steam Catapults and Ski-Jump Deck

It's important to know that this thing could be manufactured as early as 1911. The main reason for this was that carrier-based aircraft in the past were completely different from modern ones. Modern jet carrier-based aircraft generally weigh over 15 tons, and their landing speed on the aircraft carrier deck can reach 400 kilometers per hour. From this data, we can calculate that the arresting cable needs to withstand a force of about one million Newtons, which is equivalent to suspending a 100-ton weight with a steel cable with a diameter of 4 centimeters. So you can imagine how strong the arresting cable of an aircraft carrier is.

Furthermore, this data is only theoretical. In reality, when carrier-based aircraft land on the deck, pilots generally do not reduce throttle; they will operate at full power, ready to go around at any moment. All these forces ultimately act on the arresting cables. Many countries naturally cannot manufacture such high-strength cables.

Another point is that the arresting gear on an aircraft carrier is not just a simple rope. Below the rope is an extremely complex hydraulic buffer system. These hydraulic devices are the core of the entire arresting system, while the arresting rope is just a consumable.

The arresting cables of aircraft carriers have been in use for over a hundred years, dating back to before Wang Gensheng's time travel. The most advanced arresting cables are made of carbon fiber, and the underlying buffer devices have reached their third generation. The original large and heavy hydraulic dampers have been replaced by electromagnetic buffers.

However, it's much easier to install arresting cables on aircraft carriers now.

The modified Zero Mustang fighter piloted by Wang Gensheng had a total load of only five tons, and most importantly, its landing speed did not need to be 400 kilometers per hour.

Because of its light weight, the stall speed is 160 kilometers per hour, so you only need to maintain a landing speed of 200 kilometers per hour to avoid stalling.

This reduces the landing impact force of the Mustang fighter jet to less than ten tons. Therefore, with such a weight, even ordinary hemp rope, let alone steel wire, can easily complete the interception mission.

Moreover, because the impact force is weak, it can be easily solved by simply using a pulley system with added gravity buffer.

Such a simple structure naturally greatly reduces the manufacturing difficulty of the aircraft carrier's arresting gear.

After all, the country's industrial capacity is limited these days, so developing hydraulic barriers is quite difficult.

Using gravity to block it is not difficult.

Following this, Wang Gensheng bypassed the airport and created a gravity arresting cable mechanism, then added arresting hooks to the Zero Mustang.

After Wang Gensheng piloted the fighter jet for several test flights, he went straight back to the shipyard base.

There was no other way; Wang Gensheng had been at the flight school for almost a month to ensure the completion of the carrier-based aircraft, so naturally he had to go back and check on the progress of the aircraft carrier.

The dismantling of the aircraft carrier went very smoothly. All three 152mm twin turrets have been dismantled, and even the turret bases have been removed.

Other items, such as anti-aircraft guns, were also dismantled.

The current cruiser Congqing is like a toothless tiger, essentially just an ordinary ship with a slightly higher power.

The next step is to level the deck of the Congqing and widen and expand the deck width.

Although the main guns and anti-aircraft guns on the Ching-class cruiser were removed, the radar was not. While the Ching-class radar's detection range was only 25 kilometers, incomparable to the hundreds or even thousands of kilometers of detection range that would be common in the future, 25 kilometers was sufficient for the current situation. After all, there were no missiles yet, and fighter jets did not fly at supersonic speeds, so 25 kilometers was enough for the aircraft carrier to prepare for combat.

This prevents them from being caught off guard by enemy aircraft. With these few minutes of warning time, the aircraft on their own aircraft carrier can take off and intercept the enemy, instead of being frustrated and destroyed on the deck before even taking off.

However, looking at the deck being modified, Wang Gensheng had a headache. The problem was whether to use a ski-jump deck or a steam catapult!
That's right, although the Zero Mustang tested at the flight school had basically met the operational requirements, that is, it could take off with half a ton of ordnance while fully fueled.

Of course, carrying half a ton of ammunition is far from its limit. After the Mustang fighter is modified to be one and a half tons lighter, it can easily carry two tons of ammunition into the air. However, with the increase in the amount of ammunition, the 150-meter flight deck of the Congqing aircraft carrier is obviously not enough.

As for increasing the aircraft carrier's deck, that's impossible. With the Congqing aircraft carrier's hull, the maximum increase would be a dozen meters or so. If it were increased further, it would affect the strength of the hull and the deck.

However, such a small increase in length was clearly insufficient for the Zero Mustang fighters to take off from the ship while carrying Kaiten torpedoes.

Indeed, under normal circumstances, if the Zero Mustang could carry half a ton of ordnance to take off and have a combat radius of more than 500 kilometers, that would be quite impressive.

If you want to inflict fatal damage on enemy warships and aircraft carriers, simply dropping bombs is far from enough. Not to mention that dropping bombs close to the airspace above an enemy aircraft carrier is extremely dangerous, the accuracy and destructive power of aerial bombs are far inferior to torpedoes, especially the Kaiten torpedo with artificial guidance.

Therefore, in order for the aircraft carrier Chokei to have a killer weapon, it was necessary to be able to launch Zero Mustangs carrying Kaiten torpedoes from the aircraft carrier.

The 1.5-ton weight of the Kaiten torpedo made it impossible for a Zero Mustang to take off from the carrier after being loaded with it.

Fortunately, although Wang Gensheng was a transmigrator with a low level of education, he had heard that steam catapult takeoff and ski-jump takeoff on aircraft carriers could increase the takeoff weight of fighter jets.

The dilemma Wang Gensheng is now faced with is whether to choose steam catapults or ski-jump decks.

Of course, while it was called a choice, Wang Gensheng actually had no choice at all. Although steam catapults could allow larger aircraft to take off from aircraft carriers,

In terms of takeoff performance alone, it is far superior to ski-jump deck. After all, ski-jump deck takeoff still relies on the engine power of the carrier-based aircraft. Therefore, although it can increase the takeoff load of the carrier-based aircraft, it still cannot enable the carrier-based aircraft to take off at full load.

Choosing steam catapults was an option, but steam catapults are not like ski-jump decks. The structure of steam catapults is very complex, and Wang Gensheng could not understand its internal structure in a short time.

Furthermore, steam catapults need to be linked with steam turbines to allow steam from the boiler to enter the steam catapult cylinders. This requires the cylinders to withstand extremely high pressures. Currently, with the industrial capabilities of the country, it is impossible to manufacture high-pressure cylinders that can withstand such high pressures.

Therefore, considering the actual situation, Wang Gensheng's only option was the ski-jump deck.

(End of this chapter)