Olietanker ombouwen tot vliegdekschip

Gestart door Ace1, 14/06/2015 | 13:53 uur

Een olietanker of vrachtdekschip ombouwen tot vliegdekschip is een goede zaak?

Ja
7 (26.9%)
Nee
18 (69.2%)
Geen mening
1 (3.8%)

Totaal aantal stemmen: 25

Poll gesloten: 13/08/2015 | 13:53 uur

Ace1

How The U.S. Navy Turned An Oil Tanker Into A Helicopter Sea Base



The Navy and Marines' sea basing dreams are quickly becoming a tangible reality, with two of their giant Mobile Landing Platforms already in the water. Now, the next variation of the sea basing concept has been floated, the Afloat Forward Staging Base USNS Lewis B. Puller, which has more in common with the world's first aircraft carriers than anything else.

The USNS Lewis B. Puller is a monster, measuring in at 764-feet long, 164-feet wide and displacing a whopping 78,000 tons. She is so big that I had to look for her twice on Google Earth as I first passed right over her. I was looking at the Destroyers, Landing Ship Docks and other large ships around her for scale. Literally, my mind was filtering her out due to her massive size!

In many ways, the Lewis B. Puller is actually an aircraft carrier on the cheap, costing less than a Littoral Combat Ship. So you can see how the Afloat Forward Staging Base concept is very enticing for an increasingly cash-strapped US Navy.

Like the very first aircraft carriers, that were transport ships with flight decks built atop their hulls, the Lewis B. Puller is basically an Alaska Class oil tanker with a giant flight deck built up on pylons where the majority of her cargo hold would be. This leaves a large space open below the flight deck for storage, vehicles, modular compartments and additional infrastructure.



This giant flight deck can accommodate four the DoD's biggest choppers, the MH-53E Sea Dragon, at any given time. There is a massive hangar space built into her forward structure, just off her flight deck, as well. This hangar bay is so big that two MH-53Es can be worked on inside of it, along with storage for four Mk 105 minesweeping hydrofoil sleds, with plenty of room to spare.



The whole AFSB concept was built with both mine-sweeping and special operations primarily in mind, although the ship is capable of supporting a slew of other missions, including disaster relief and anti-piracy operations. For mine sweeping duties, she can launch, recover and refuel the big sled-towing Sea Dragons almost indefinitely while also acting as a tender for smaller mine hunting vessels. Currently, this exact mission is being carried out in the Persian Gulf by the tired Austin Class amphibious transport dock USS Ponce, along with some special operations and anti-surface duties.



When not being used for the critical mine sweeping role, the Lewis B. Puller can be used as the most capable special operations aviation platform imaginable, carrying a mixed load of MH-60, MH-6, and MH-47 helicopters, as well as drones, such as the MH-8 Fire Scout, or even light fixed wing varieties.

Floating special operations bases are nothing new, being commonplace during the Vietnam War and reborn in the 1980s during the 'tanker wars.' In addition to helicopters, special operations small and medium boats could tied up alongside, or even be craned aboard the Lewis B. Puller, so that both air and sea special operations activities could be executed simultaneously.

Being that this ship was based on a massive oil super-tanker, she can hold a lot of gas for helicopters and boats to use, with underway replenishment needed at a much lower frequency than past 'make-do' adapted forward operating platforms. The ship also features a large hardened ammunition magazine for stockpiling everything from Hellfire missiles to small arms ammunition. Additionally, the vessel will be capable of command and control functions for both minesweeping and special operations duties, with a state of the art communications system being installed.

Finally, the Lewis B. Puller will also have an accompanying 'accommodation barge' that can hold almost 300 special forces operators, aviation related crews or other specialized personnel. These barges can be tailored extensively depending on the mission demands. This is in addition to the ship's already generous berthing and living areas.

The design was built for constant improvements to be easily adapted, and although it is not planned, the F-35B may one day operate from the AFSBs, although deck heating is an issue, as it is with all US Navy ships in inventory that are planned to accept the F-35B. Still, under certain circumstances, ships like this one could be huge force multipliers for the F-35B, especially when it comes to increasing the jet's range and area of influence.



The Afloat Forward Staging Bases, two of which are currently on order, are built by in San Diego by General Dynamics' NASSCO shipyard. Once the Lewis B. Puller becomes fully operational, which could come as early as 2015, she will forward deploy to the Persian Gulf and takeover for the USS Ponce as America's floating multi-mission sea base in the region.

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/how-the-u-s-navy-turned-an-oil-tanker-into-a-helicopte-1658743256

DvdW

The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair...

ת'תקווה בלב נועל, עם חזק לא נתקפל
כי לא נולד הבן זונה שיעצור את ישראל

Ace1

Escort carrier

The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier (hull classification symbol CVE), also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the United States Navy (USN) or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slow type of aircraft carrier used by the Royal Navy, the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army Air Force, and the United States Navy in World War II. They were typically half the length and a third the displacement of larger fleet carriers. While they were slower, carried fewer planes and were less well armed and armored, escort carriers were cheaper and could be built quickly, which was their principal advantage. Escort carriers could be completed in greater numbers as a stop-gap when fleet carriers were scarce. However, the lack of protection made escort carriers particularly vulnerable and several were sunk with great loss of life. The light carrier (hull classification symbol CVL) was a similar concept to escort carriers in most respects, but were capable of higher speeds to allow operation alongside fleet carriers.

Most often built on a commercial ship hull, escort carriers were too slow to keep up with the main forces consisting of fleet carriers, battleships, and cruisers. Instead, they were used to escort convoys, defending them from enemy threats such as submarines and planes. In the invasions of mainland Europe and Pacific islands, escort carriers provided air support to ground forces during amphibious operations. Escort carriers also served as backup aircraft transports for fleet carriers and ferried aircraft of all military services to points of delivery.

In the Battle of the Atlantic, escort carriers were used to protect convoys against U-boats. Initially escort carriers accompanied the merchant ships and helped to fend off attacks from aircraft and submarines. As numbers increased later in the war, escort carriers also formed part of hunter-killer groups that sought out submarines instead of being attached to a particular convoy.

In the Pacific theater, CVEs provided air support of ground troops in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. They lacked the speed and weapons to counter enemy fleets, relying on the protection of a Fast Carrier Task Force. However, at the Battle off Samar, one U.S. task force of escort carriers managed to successfully defend itself against a much larger Japanese force of battleships and cruisers. The Japanese met a furious defense of carrier aircraft, screening destroyers, and destroyer escorts, proving that CVEs could appear to have the same striking power as full CVs.

Of the 151 aircraft carriers built in the U.S. during World War II, 122 were escort carriers. Though no examples survive to this day, the Casablanca class holds the distinction of being the most numerous single class of aircraft carrier ever built, with 50 having been launched. The Bogue class comes in a close second, with 45 launched.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escort_carrier

Ace1

#1
Ik laat even zien waar ik het idee vandaan heb.

Merchant aircraft carrier

A merchant aircraft carrier (also known as a MAC) was a limited purpose aircraft carrier built on a British hull designed for bulk grain ships and oil tankers. This was adapted by adding a flight deck enabling it to operate anti-submarine aircraft in support of Allied convoys during the Battle of the Atlantic.

Despite their quasi-military function, MACs retained their mercantile status, continued to carry cargo and operated under civilian command. MACs began entering service in May 1943 and although originally intended as an interim measure pending the introduction of escort carriers, they remained operational until the end of the war in Europe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_aircraft_carrier