How many missiles and torpedoes are needed to sink an aircraft carrier?
It is often said that an aircraft carrier is a large and fragile target that can be easily taken out of the game if not sunk. So are the Americans really investing billions of dollars in ships that will fall apart at the drop of a hat? Let's look at the survivability of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, which is the backbone of the American carrier forces and American might in the vastness of the World Ocean. I would like to point out right away that the author of the article does not raise questions like: how many missiles break through the "Aegis shield" or the chances of a submarine breaking through to the center of the ship formation. No, let's imagine a purely hypothetical situation in which missiles and torpedoes successfully reach their target.
First, I must recall that by the time the first Nimitz was laid in the 1968 year, the Americans already had 48 years of experience in building and operating combat ships of this type, which allowed Nimitz to implement many solutions, increasing the survivability of the ship. And so, how is its survivability ensured?
Firstly, the aircraft carrier is huge and has a fantastic reserve of buoyancy. Secondly, its structural protection - the thickness of its outer skin reaches 1-1,5 centimeters, and the internal longitudinal bulkheads - up to 2-2,5 centimeters of high-quality high-strength steel. Most of the flight deck is made of removable steel sheets (the yield strength of which is 7000 kgf/cm2, the tensile strength is 8000 kgf/cm2, the thickness of the sheets is 45 mm), which allows for the fairly quick replacement of damaged areas, in the areas of the cellars, the horizontal protection is most likely thicker and can reach up to 140 mm. In general, 1496 tons of HY-80 steel, 21527 tons of HY -100 steel and 22370 tons of HTS and MS steels are used to build the Nimitz. Of course, this is not armor steel, but these grades of steel have good strength, and the aircraft carrier cannot be called a "tin can" like other modern warships. In addition to structural protection, there is also local anti-fragmentation armor made of Kevlar plates up to 64 mm thick, of course, they will not stop warheads, but they will definitely be able to localize many fragments. And although the ship is not an armored floating fortress, like a battleship, its huge linear dimensions practically exclude the spread of damaging factors of non-nuclear ammunition. Thirdly, all vital systems of the ship are duplicated and spaced apart from each other, which does not allow them to be disabled by a single hit. And such vulnerable elements as the nuclear power plant and powder magazines are located in the underwater part of the ship below the waterline and covered with armor, aviation fuel is generally stored in buoys, thereby removed from the ship's hull. Therefore, one cannot count on the defeat of such important critical elements.
Many people point out that the flight deck is crowded with aircraft containing tons of ammunition and flammable jet fuel. Two striking examples are always given as a clear example: the fire on the Forrestal (in 1967) and on the Enterprise (in 1969). In both cases, a small Zunni missile caused real disasters that resulted in large human casualties and monstrous destruction. Many use these two incidents as evidence of the vulnerability of the aircraft carrier. But I would like to object that these incidents were accidents that occurred at the time of preparing the aircraft for a combat sortie, and there were many equipped and fueled aircraft on the deck. This can only be repeated if the attack on the aircraft carrier is unexpected, only if the crew does not have time to prepare for the strike, which, you must agree, is unlikely in reality, fleet The United States has many means of monitoring the space around its AUGs and it is unlikely to succeed in invisibly attacking an aircraft carrier. Most likely, the crew of the aircraft carrier will have 5-10 minutes of time. What can the team do in these 5-10 minutes? Yes, a lot:
- Overlaps and blows fuel lines, thereby eliminating the risk of fire spreading through them or leakage of fuel vapors, which could lead to an explosion.
- Ammunition and hanging fuel tanks are either cleaned in the cellars, or, if there is a lack of time, they are simply dumped overboard by forklifts.
- Ready-to-launch aircraft launch urgently. From the refueled, but not ready for flight, fuel is drained urgently (if there is not enough time, these machines can be urgently dropped overboard - of course, losing a fighter for tens of millions is unpleasant, but leaving such a bomb on the flight deck is even less pleasant) . Unfilled cars are put into the hangar.
- Shatterproof bulkheads are blocked, anti-explosion doors are closed and all fire fighting equipment and gear are activated.
But if you still catch the crew by surprise? If you take the aircraft carrier by surprise, and even at a time when equipped and refueled aircraft are on the deck, then this will certainly be the worst option for the aircraft carrier’s crew, but it’s premature to talk about his death or incapacitation. The Americans learned from those disasters and battles with the Japanese Empire. Aircraft carriers like Nimitz have an automated and very powerful flight deck irrigation system that can turn a flight deck into a real Niagara Falls in seconds.
Moreover, each sailor on an aircraft carrier is a professional firefighter. On the aircraft carrier itself there is a fire and sapper equipment, including armored tractors, with which you can drop burning aircraft overboard.
Many argue that there is no need to drown an “aircraft hut”, it is enough to destroy catapults, air finishers, aircraft lifters, and just make a hole in the flight deck and all Goliath is defeated. Well, let's carefully examine the flight deck.
The catapults are marked in red, there are four of them, one pair is located in the forward part of the deck, the second pair is located on the corner deck. At the same time, the working parts of both catapult blocks are spread over the gallery deck at a distance of more than 50 meters. Such separation and anti-fragment bulkheads guarantee that single hits will not disable all four catapults, in the worst case, the return mechanism will be damaged, and this is a breakdown of a pair of catapults at once. Although it is not at all clear how the missiles will accurately hit these catapults, which are built into the flight deck and are not separated from it in any way, how will the missile homing head distinguish the catapult from other elements of the deck? Therefore, hitting them will be random. It should be noted that the F-18A/F is capable of taking off without a catapult in a "lightweight" version, having only air-to-air missiles on part of the suspension and with half the fuel. The aircraft carrier also has propellant boosters, which could be a temporary solution.
The green finishers, which are also available in four copies and which are also divided into two blocks, are highlighted in green. Both blocks are separated from each other and are isolated by transverse bulkheads. It should be noted that the above deck is easily replaceable. Even in the event of a complete loss of aerofinisher, the aircraft carrier’s team has emergency emergency equipment for landing aircraft - grid-barriers.
Aircraft lifts are highlighted in blue, four of them are distributed along the edges of the flight deck, three on the starboard side, and one on the left. Which eliminates the defeat of one ammunition. The aircraft hatches on the sides are closed with double explosion-proof doors, with a wide gap between them.
But how strong is the flight deck itself? In the case of a fire on the Forrestal, its flight deck exploded: 16 air bombs in caliber 453 kg, 4 air bombs in caliber 340 kg, 8 air bombs in caliber 225 kg. But it must be clarified that these were old bombs of the Second World War, where the explosives degraded and their power was lower than that of the new bombs, but 10 408 kg of bombs is not sickly. In the case of the Enterprise, on its flight deck it detonated: 4 Zuni with 5 kg warheads each, 6 aerial bombs of 225 kg caliber and a tanker with 6000 gallons of fuel. However, the holes were not huge, and after clearing the deck, she was able to fulfill her function. “Patches” were applied to all the holes in the flight deck - the damaged edges were cut off with an autogen and a temporary steel floor was applied. In order to riddle the flight deck of an aircraft carrier so that it ceases to fulfill its function, an unreasonable amount of ammunition will be required.
Maybe we can get into the hangar? If the missile can penetrate the flight deck and the gallery or hit the side at an altitude of 20-30 meters above the waterline, it may well hit the hangar. The hangar of the Nimz is three-sectioned, divided into three parts by explosion-proof sliding bulkheads, which in turn localize the explosion. However, the aircraft that are in the hangar are not fueled and do not carry any weapons (the experience of the war in the Pacific taught us that equipped and fueled aircraft in the hangar is a very bad idea), with the exception of only some ammunition, which does not detonate for a long time from fire. But the defeat of even one section of the hangar already means that the aircraft carrier has lost a third of the wing, provided that all the aircraft are in the hangar.
The powder carrier cellar of the aircraft carrier is located in the safest place - in the underwater part, below the waterline, and the cellar itself is divided into 32 independent compartments and is covered by a Kevlar armored deck to protect against fragments. In this case, the supply of ammunition from the cellar to the flight deck is divided into two stages. First, elevators deliver ammunition from the cellars to the assembly room, which is located on the second deck and is brought out under the ledge of the flight deck as far as possible from the hull. In the assembly room, the ammunition is put on alert and sent to the flight deck with a special lift or aircraft lift. It is also worth noting that the US Navy uses the so-called "safe" ammunition that can withstand high temperatures from open fire for a long time until the team puts out the fire.
As aviation Fuel is the main source of fire situations, then American shipbuilders paid maximum attention to this problem. Firstly, all stocks of aviation fuel are stored in anti-torpedo buoys and are part of the anti-torpedo protection. Thus, the fuel is isolated and surrounded by water, the fuel tanks themselves contain only nitrogen, which eliminates the formation of an explosion of a dangerous mixture of air and fuel vapors. Secondly, sailors prefer to use only old fuel JP-5, although it is not as effective as the more modern JP-8, but the old fuel JP-5 has a higher ignition temperature. On the flight deck itself, there are 14 refueling units that are used both for fuel supply and for emergency pumping, according to the standards, the refueling team must empty the F-18 fuel tanks in 10 minutes or in 15 minutes if portable hoses are used.
The Nimitz nuclear power plant is located in its underwater part of the ship and dispersed. The reactor and turbine compartments alternate from bow to stern in the following order: reactor - turbine - reactor - turbine, and are separated from each other by two watertight bulkheads and intermediate compartments. The reactors themselves operate on the principle of "fail-safe" that is, the core of the reactor is partially filled with water as a neutron moderator, and water is continuously pumped out by pumps. In the event of an accident, the pumps stop pumping water, a complete flooding of the core occurs, which leads to the killing of the reactor. Moreover, the nuclear installation itself has a very high degree of reliability and fault tolerance, and the reactor team is very well prepared for work in emergency situations. This statement is without any doubt, since modern safety precautions for nuclear weapons are the main legacy of Admiral Rickover.
Yes, how many missiles will we need to, if not to sink, then at least for a long time to disable an aircraft carrier? Given all the survivability measures for an Nimitz-type aircraft carrier, it can be assumed how much is enough. Take, for example, the Granite missile as one of the most powerful anti-ship missiles in the world. Approximately it will be represented as follows:
- 1-2 hits from Granites - the aircraft carrier will restore full combat capability within a few hours. Catapults and arresting gear are functioning, although not all of them. If you're lucky, about 1/3 of the air wing will be destroyed.
-3-5 hits of “Granites” - an aircraft carrier will be able to partially restore its combat capability and will require serious repairs at the base, more than half of the wing is no more.
-6-8 hits of "Granites" - an aircraft carrier completely loses the ability to restore its combat effectiveness, only helicopters can be used at maximum. The ship requires a very long overhaul, which can stretch for many months, or even years, and the ship may not have time to return to the end of the conflict, that is, it will no longer be of any value in the current conflict.
- 9-19 hits of "Granites" - the aircraft carrier is so badly damaged that there are doubts about the feasibility of repair and its restoration.
-20-24 hit "Granites" (a full salvo of cruisers 1144 and submarines 949А) - an aircraft carrier turns into a charred skeleton, possibly radioactive. In this case, the escort ships themselves will finish him (so that the poor fellow would not suffer).
The thickness of the anti-torpedo protection reaches 6 meters, which must withstand a contact explosion of a standard 533-mm torpedo with a 300-kilogram warhead. The protection is made according to the so-called "American" three-chamber scheme: an expansion chamber at the outer casing (according to some sources, a synthetic filler is used in the expansion chamber, which dampens the energy of the shock wave); then there is an absorption chamber (tanks with aviation fuel) in the middle; an expansion chamber in front of the main watertight bulkhead. Protection from explosion by the bottom is provided by a double bottom along the entire length of the ship and a reinforced keel. The ship's hull is divided into a series of watertight compartments by twenty-three transverse and four longitudinal bulkheads, ensuring the unsinkability of the ship in the event of significant combat damage.
In order to sink such a giant, at least 10 torpedoes of 533 mm caliber will be needed. And all these arguments that it is enough to tilt the aircraft carrier with a couple of torpedoes are shattered by the fact that the aircraft carrier crew will only need to carry out a standard counter-flooding procedure to level the trim. The decommissioned 65-76 "Kit" torpedo of 650 mm caliber carried a warhead weighing more than 550 kg and could be more effective, since it would most likely penetrate anti-torpedo protection, but to successfully disable the aircraft carrier, approximately 5-6 would be needed. At the same time, only with the help of torpedoes can you send the giant to the bottom. No matter how many missiles you use, only the destruction of the underwater part and the ship taking on seawater is the only way to deal with an aircraft carrier.
Of course, a direct hit on an aircraft carrier by a special charge (nuclear munition) guarantees that the aircraft carrier will remain only in memories. But if a nuclear explosion occurs at a certain distance, then the aircraft carrier is quite capable of surviving it. Operation Crossroads in July 1946 showed that large ships are quite resistant to the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion, during the test, aircraft carriers withstood up to 30 pounds per square inch, a modern aircraft carrier can withstand much more. A modern aircraft carrier has crew protection from Weapons mass destruction, and its steel hull with a complex air conditioning system will effectively protect against radioactive radiation and radioactive fallout. Many experts argue that the explosion of a 500 kt warhead (and this is the power often indicated when talking about special warheads of the Granit, Bazalt, and Kh-22 missiles) at a distance of more than 1,5 km does not pose a threat to an aircraft carrier. Many suggest that in a nuclear war, aircraft carriers will be useless, since radioactive fallout will make it impossible for personnel to stay on the flight deck. Here one can object, since there is a flight deck irrigation system, which can not only extinguish a fire, but also wash away radioactive contamination from the flight deck.
Aircraft carrier is truly a "toughie", which is really difficult to crack, and with its air wing he is the most dangerous enemy at sea. The aircraft carrier has tremendous survivability, but, of course, is not invulnerable. In order to cause significant damage to an aircraft carrier, you need to use a lot of strength, because only multiple hits can disable it, while the aircraft carrier itself will not give up so easily.
Heavy RCC
First, I must recall that by the time the first Nimitz was laid in the 1968 year, the Americans already had 48 years of experience in building and operating combat ships of this type, which allowed Nimitz to implement many solutions, increasing the survivability of the ship. And so, how is its survivability ensured?
Firstly, the aircraft carrier is huge and has a fantastic reserve of buoyancy. Secondly, its structural protection - the thickness of its outer skin reaches 1-1,5 centimeters, and the internal longitudinal bulkheads - up to 2-2,5 centimeters of high-quality high-strength steel. Most of the flight deck is made of removable steel sheets (the yield strength of which is 7000 kgf/cm2, the tensile strength is 8000 kgf/cm2, the thickness of the sheets is 45 mm), which allows for the fairly quick replacement of damaged areas, in the areas of the cellars, the horizontal protection is most likely thicker and can reach up to 140 mm. In general, 1496 tons of HY-80 steel, 21527 tons of HY -100 steel and 22370 tons of HTS and MS steels are used to build the Nimitz. Of course, this is not armor steel, but these grades of steel have good strength, and the aircraft carrier cannot be called a "tin can" like other modern warships. In addition to structural protection, there is also local anti-fragmentation armor made of Kevlar plates up to 64 mm thick, of course, they will not stop warheads, but they will definitely be able to localize many fragments. And although the ship is not an armored floating fortress, like a battleship, its huge linear dimensions practically exclude the spread of damaging factors of non-nuclear ammunition. Thirdly, all vital systems of the ship are duplicated and spaced apart from each other, which does not allow them to be disabled by a single hit. And such vulnerable elements as the nuclear power plant and powder magazines are located in the underwater part of the ship below the waterline and covered with armor, aviation fuel is generally stored in buoys, thereby removed from the ship's hull. Therefore, one cannot count on the defeat of such important critical elements.
Many people point out that the flight deck is crowded with aircraft containing tons of ammunition and flammable jet fuel. Two striking examples are always given as a clear example: the fire on the Forrestal (in 1967) and on the Enterprise (in 1969). In both cases, a small Zunni missile caused real disasters that resulted in large human casualties and monstrous destruction. Many use these two incidents as evidence of the vulnerability of the aircraft carrier. But I would like to object that these incidents were accidents that occurred at the time of preparing the aircraft for a combat sortie, and there were many equipped and fueled aircraft on the deck. This can only be repeated if the attack on the aircraft carrier is unexpected, only if the crew does not have time to prepare for the strike, which, you must agree, is unlikely in reality, fleet The United States has many means of monitoring the space around its AUGs and it is unlikely to succeed in invisibly attacking an aircraft carrier. Most likely, the crew of the aircraft carrier will have 5-10 minutes of time. What can the team do in these 5-10 minutes? Yes, a lot:
- Overlaps and blows fuel lines, thereby eliminating the risk of fire spreading through them or leakage of fuel vapors, which could lead to an explosion.
- Ammunition and hanging fuel tanks are either cleaned in the cellars, or, if there is a lack of time, they are simply dumped overboard by forklifts.
- Ready-to-launch aircraft launch urgently. From the refueled, but not ready for flight, fuel is drained urgently (if there is not enough time, these machines can be urgently dropped overboard - of course, losing a fighter for tens of millions is unpleasant, but leaving such a bomb on the flight deck is even less pleasant) . Unfilled cars are put into the hangar.
- Shatterproof bulkheads are blocked, anti-explosion doors are closed and all fire fighting equipment and gear are activated.
If necessary, aircraft without regret are thrown overboard
But if you still catch the crew by surprise? If you take the aircraft carrier by surprise, and even at a time when equipped and refueled aircraft are on the deck, then this will certainly be the worst option for the aircraft carrier’s crew, but it’s premature to talk about his death or incapacitation. The Americans learned from those disasters and battles with the Japanese Empire. Aircraft carriers like Nimitz have an automated and very powerful flight deck irrigation system that can turn a flight deck into a real Niagara Falls in seconds.
Deck irrigation systems began to be used on US aircraft carriers after the Forrestal fire. Pictured is CV-42 Franklin Roosevelt
Irrigation system on an aircraft carrier of the Nimitz type
Moreover, each sailor on an aircraft carrier is a professional firefighter. On the aircraft carrier itself there is a fire and sapper equipment, including armored tractors, with which you can drop burning aircraft overboard.
Many argue that there is no need to drown an “aircraft hut”, it is enough to destroy catapults, air finishers, aircraft lifters, and just make a hole in the flight deck and all Goliath is defeated. Well, let's carefully examine the flight deck.
The catapults are marked in red, there are four of them, one pair is located in the forward part of the deck, the second pair is located on the corner deck. At the same time, the working parts of both catapult blocks are spread over the gallery deck at a distance of more than 50 meters. Such separation and anti-fragment bulkheads guarantee that single hits will not disable all four catapults, in the worst case, the return mechanism will be damaged, and this is a breakdown of a pair of catapults at once. Although it is not at all clear how the missiles will accurately hit these catapults, which are built into the flight deck and are not separated from it in any way, how will the missile homing head distinguish the catapult from other elements of the deck? Therefore, hitting them will be random. It should be noted that the F-18A/F is capable of taking off without a catapult in a "lightweight" version, having only air-to-air missiles on part of the suspension and with half the fuel. The aircraft carrier also has propellant boosters, which could be a temporary solution.
The green finishers, which are also available in four copies and which are also divided into two blocks, are highlighted in green. Both blocks are separated from each other and are isolated by transverse bulkheads. It should be noted that the above deck is easily replaceable. Even in the event of a complete loss of aerofinisher, the aircraft carrier’s team has emergency emergency equipment for landing aircraft - grid-barriers.
Aircraft lifts are highlighted in blue, four of them are distributed along the edges of the flight deck, three on the starboard side, and one on the left. Which eliminates the defeat of one ammunition. The aircraft hatches on the sides are closed with double explosion-proof doors, with a wide gap between them.
But how strong is the flight deck itself? In the case of a fire on the Forrestal, its flight deck exploded: 16 air bombs in caliber 453 kg, 4 air bombs in caliber 340 kg, 8 air bombs in caliber 225 kg. But it must be clarified that these were old bombs of the Second World War, where the explosives degraded and their power was lower than that of the new bombs, but 10 408 kg of bombs is not sickly. In the case of the Enterprise, on its flight deck it detonated: 4 Zuni with 5 kg warheads each, 6 aerial bombs of 225 kg caliber and a tanker with 6000 gallons of fuel. However, the holes were not huge, and after clearing the deck, she was able to fulfill her function. “Patches” were applied to all the holes in the flight deck - the damaged edges were cut off with an autogen and a temporary steel floor was applied. In order to riddle the flight deck of an aircraft carrier so that it ceases to fulfill its function, an unreasonable amount of ammunition will be required.
A hole in the flight deck on Forrestal.
Maybe we can get into the hangar? If the missile can penetrate the flight deck and the gallery or hit the side at an altitude of 20-30 meters above the waterline, it may well hit the hangar. The hangar of the Nimz is three-sectioned, divided into three parts by explosion-proof sliding bulkheads, which in turn localize the explosion. However, the aircraft that are in the hangar are not fueled and do not carry any weapons (the experience of the war in the Pacific taught us that equipped and fueled aircraft in the hangar is a very bad idea), with the exception of only some ammunition, which does not detonate for a long time from fire. But the defeat of even one section of the hangar already means that the aircraft carrier has lost a third of the wing, provided that all the aircraft are in the hangar.
The powder carrier cellar of the aircraft carrier is located in the safest place - in the underwater part, below the waterline, and the cellar itself is divided into 32 independent compartments and is covered by a Kevlar armored deck to protect against fragments. In this case, the supply of ammunition from the cellar to the flight deck is divided into two stages. First, elevators deliver ammunition from the cellars to the assembly room, which is located on the second deck and is brought out under the ledge of the flight deck as far as possible from the hull. In the assembly room, the ammunition is put on alert and sent to the flight deck with a special lift or aircraft lift. It is also worth noting that the US Navy uses the so-called "safe" ammunition that can withstand high temperatures from open fire for a long time until the team puts out the fire.
As aviation Fuel is the main source of fire situations, then American shipbuilders paid maximum attention to this problem. Firstly, all stocks of aviation fuel are stored in anti-torpedo buoys and are part of the anti-torpedo protection. Thus, the fuel is isolated and surrounded by water, the fuel tanks themselves contain only nitrogen, which eliminates the formation of an explosion of a dangerous mixture of air and fuel vapors. Secondly, sailors prefer to use only old fuel JP-5, although it is not as effective as the more modern JP-8, but the old fuel JP-5 has a higher ignition temperature. On the flight deck itself, there are 14 refueling units that are used both for fuel supply and for emergency pumping, according to the standards, the refueling team must empty the F-18 fuel tanks in 10 minutes or in 15 minutes if portable hoses are used.
The Nimitz nuclear power plant is located in its underwater part of the ship and dispersed. The reactor and turbine compartments alternate from bow to stern in the following order: reactor - turbine - reactor - turbine, and are separated from each other by two watertight bulkheads and intermediate compartments. The reactors themselves operate on the principle of "fail-safe" that is, the core of the reactor is partially filled with water as a neutron moderator, and water is continuously pumped out by pumps. In the event of an accident, the pumps stop pumping water, a complete flooding of the core occurs, which leads to the killing of the reactor. Moreover, the nuclear installation itself has a very high degree of reliability and fault tolerance, and the reactor team is very well prepared for work in emergency situations. This statement is without any doubt, since modern safety precautions for nuclear weapons are the main legacy of Admiral Rickover.
A bit of “sofa analytics”
Yes, how many missiles will we need to, if not to sink, then at least for a long time to disable an aircraft carrier? Given all the survivability measures for an Nimitz-type aircraft carrier, it can be assumed how much is enough. Take, for example, the Granite missile as one of the most powerful anti-ship missiles in the world. Approximately it will be represented as follows:
- 1-2 hits from Granites - the aircraft carrier will restore full combat capability within a few hours. Catapults and arresting gear are functioning, although not all of them. If you're lucky, about 1/3 of the air wing will be destroyed.
-3-5 hits of “Granites” - an aircraft carrier will be able to partially restore its combat capability and will require serious repairs at the base, more than half of the wing is no more.
-6-8 hits of "Granites" - an aircraft carrier completely loses the ability to restore its combat effectiveness, only helicopters can be used at maximum. The ship requires a very long overhaul, which can stretch for many months, or even years, and the ship may not have time to return to the end of the conflict, that is, it will no longer be of any value in the current conflict.
- 9-19 hits of "Granites" - the aircraft carrier is so badly damaged that there are doubts about the feasibility of repair and its restoration.
-20-24 hit "Granites" (a full salvo of cruisers 1144 and submarines 949А) - an aircraft carrier turns into a charred skeleton, possibly radioactive. In this case, the escort ships themselves will finish him (so that the poor fellow would not suffer).
But what about torpedoes?
The thickness of the anti-torpedo protection reaches 6 meters, which must withstand a contact explosion of a standard 533-mm torpedo with a 300-kilogram warhead. The protection is made according to the so-called "American" three-chamber scheme: an expansion chamber at the outer casing (according to some sources, a synthetic filler is used in the expansion chamber, which dampens the energy of the shock wave); then there is an absorption chamber (tanks with aviation fuel) in the middle; an expansion chamber in front of the main watertight bulkhead. Protection from explosion by the bottom is provided by a double bottom along the entire length of the ship and a reinforced keel. The ship's hull is divided into a series of watertight compartments by twenty-three transverse and four longitudinal bulkheads, ensuring the unsinkability of the ship in the event of significant combat damage.
In order to sink such a giant, at least 10 torpedoes of 533 mm caliber will be needed. And all these arguments that it is enough to tilt the aircraft carrier with a couple of torpedoes are shattered by the fact that the aircraft carrier crew will only need to carry out a standard counter-flooding procedure to level the trim. The decommissioned 65-76 "Kit" torpedo of 650 mm caliber carried a warhead weighing more than 550 kg and could be more effective, since it would most likely penetrate anti-torpedo protection, but to successfully disable the aircraft carrier, approximately 5-6 would be needed. At the same time, only with the help of torpedoes can you send the giant to the bottom. No matter how many missiles you use, only the destruction of the underwater part and the ship taking on seawater is the only way to deal with an aircraft carrier.
But what about “Kuzkina’s mother”
Of course, a direct hit on an aircraft carrier by a special charge (nuclear munition) guarantees that the aircraft carrier will remain only in memories. But if a nuclear explosion occurs at a certain distance, then the aircraft carrier is quite capable of surviving it. Operation Crossroads in July 1946 showed that large ships are quite resistant to the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion, during the test, aircraft carriers withstood up to 30 pounds per square inch, a modern aircraft carrier can withstand much more. A modern aircraft carrier has crew protection from Weapons mass destruction, and its steel hull with a complex air conditioning system will effectively protect against radioactive radiation and radioactive fallout. Many experts argue that the explosion of a 500 kt warhead (and this is the power often indicated when talking about special warheads of the Granit, Bazalt, and Kh-22 missiles) at a distance of more than 1,5 km does not pose a threat to an aircraft carrier. Many suggest that in a nuclear war, aircraft carriers will be useless, since radioactive fallout will make it impossible for personnel to stay on the flight deck. Here one can object, since there is a flight deck irrigation system, which can not only extinguish a fire, but also wash away radioactive contamination from the flight deck.
Shock tests of an aircraft carrier, a simulator of a nuclear explosion detonates at a certain distance from the ship, to simulate an indirect nuclear strike, all ship systems must function without failures.
Conclusion
Aircraft carrier is truly a "toughie", which is really difficult to crack, and with its air wing he is the most dangerous enemy at sea. The aircraft carrier has tremendous survivability, but, of course, is not invulnerable. In order to cause significant damage to an aircraft carrier, you need to use a lot of strength, because only multiple hits can disable it, while the aircraft carrier itself will not give up so easily.
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