US aircraft carrier power. How to sink 100 000 tons?
... The Americans still managed to put into operation their last remaining AUG in the North Atlantic, which threatened considerable losses to our trade the fleet with its obsolete weapons. At this time, the flagship of the Northern Fleet, the battleship "Neuzhimets" (captured modernized "Zamvolt") was deeply bogged down in supporting the landing on the Yucatan Peninsula. Artillery autonomous modules were forced to separate from the ship and accompany the landing on land - the resistance of the Nicaraguan contras was so intense. The capacitors of the laser battery have already begun to discharge: no one expected that its installations would have to single-handedly shoot down the entire NATO satellite constellation and repel countless attacks drones.
... In the current situation, Admiral Ivanov gave the nod to the separation of the missile module to strike at the US AUG. The decision turned out to be justified: in a couple of hours, an ekranoplan could fly over the ocean and reach the attack distance. With the massive missile strike of the hypersonic Kisteny, the Sixth Fleet of the “probable enemy” was almost completely sunk. However, the incident has already smacked of international scandal.
After the modules were returned to the ship, the Nezulimitse made an emergency launch of the nuclear rocket engine and an hour later went to the geostationary station. There, refueling from the station "Yuri Gagarin", the battleship headed for the Lagrange point, to connect with the 2nd strategic tank army, which had long been hiding in the clouds of Kordylevsky from the telescopes of the Hague tribunal ...
Based on the dispute on alternahistory.ru.
X-47B drone on the deck of the aircraft carrier "Harry Truman"
This funny opus is the answer to the two previous articles on "VO", devoted to methods of dealing with American aircraft carriers. The author of the article "The bitter truth about the instantaneous strike of the AUG" is full of optimism - everything that floats, someday drowns, we will shoot everyone at once, our sea. His opponent (the article "Is the Russian fleet capable of fighting US aircraft carriers?") Gives a more balanced assessment of events, rightly pointing to obvious difficulties in fighting such a mobile and combat-ready squadron as the US Navy AUG.
Dear Y. Nikiforov and S. Linnik, why was it again asking the obvious question? After all, everything is obvious. The naval power of the United States surpasses the fleets of all the other countries of the world combined. There, the number of aircraft carriers alone exceeds the number of all carriers of long-range anti-ship missiles in the domestic fleet (the nuclear-powered Orlans, the Atlantic type RKR and the SSGN 949A project). We have the entire 4 ship capable of providing zonal air defense of the squadron, the Yankees of such ships 84 (cruisers and destroyers with long-range anti-aircraft systems). Moreover, the American fleet has a multinational format - dozens of technically developed allied countries with their bases and ships, ready at any moment to strengthen the fleet of their overlord. It is absolutely unacceptable, useless, and in fact no one needs to fight such a force with the help of a handful of rusty submarines and cruisers during the cold war.
On board the TARKR "Peter the Great"
If we talk only about AUG, then the matter is not only in their quantity, but also in their quality. The Yankees managed to create a balanced squadron (aviation, warrant of air defense and anti-aircraft defense, underwater forces), practically invulnerable in the open sea. It is extremely difficult to detect and track. She does not approach close to the coast, continuously changing her position at a speed of 500 miles per day. The reconnaissance planes sent to her search will inevitably be intercepted by combat air patrols, bartering at a distance of a hundred miles from the main AUG order.
Tu-95РЦ under the escort "Phantoms"
Even during its heyday, the well-known space Legend (satellites of marine intelligence) was only a technically beautiful experiment that showed all the incredible depth and complexity of this problem. Even dropping the scary Legendy-M (satellites with a nuclear reactor), it is worth noting that the low-orbit satellite is flying in a circular orbit, making one orbit around the Earth in 80 with a few minutes. However, having made one revolution, the satellite will already be completely above another region of the planet, located thousands of kilometers from the place over which it flew for the first time. The earth has its own rotation - as a result, the satellite has a complex movement with respect to the earth observer, and its trajectory resembles a zigzag on the oscilloscope screen. To be able, with due regularity (at least once per hour) to inspect any given area of the oceans, would require a hell of a lot of space reconnaissance aircraft; the creation and operation of such a system is pure fiction.
The only one who has a chance to discover the AUG and without losing time to strike is a submarine, by chance turned out to be in the path of the aircraft carrier group. However, given that the number of combat-ready multipurpose nuclear submarines in the Russian Navy is currently less than the number of aircraft carriers of the “probable enemy”, the probability theory gives a meager forecast about their encounter in the vast ocean. It is worth noting that the AUG moves quickly, and the boat is constrained to maneuver. Attempting to give full speed, catch up with the squadron and take a favorable position for the attack is fraught with the risk of loss of stealth and the disruption of the attack / death of the submarine. The AUG includes at least 4-5 surface ships with powerful sonar stations and RUM-139 ASROC-VL missile torpedoes, not counting the multi-purpose submarines covering the aircraft carrier from under water. Anti-submarine "turntables" are actively used (a couple of dozen per squadron), while the aircraft carrier does not hesitate to help from the side of basic aviation. At the corners of the AUG, the Orions and Poseidons (naval patrol / anti-submarine aircraft based on civilian airliners) constantly scour.
As a result, the AUG can continuously evade contact with the enemy, at the same time, due to the presence of a “long arm”, counterattacking enemy ships trying to get closer to the squadron at a range of launching their missiles (or at least to find the approximate location of the AUG).
What can oppose such a threat? Equipping and sending her own AUG to her search - two "Elusive Joe" will run one after another across the ocean, periodically getting involved in aerial battles. Someday, one of the parties will be lucky: a coordinated attack will take the enemy by surprise, the planes will break through and “strike” the enemy warrant (the battle in the Coral Sea, Midway - distant echoes from the past).
The Legend of the Elusive Joe
The facts from the first part of the article are capable of plunging into despondency, but you should not despair!
The last carrier-carrier carrier of nuclear weapons (A-5 Vigilante) was removed from service by the Yankees in 1963 year. The reason was the emergence of a much more reliable and efficient system - submarines with ballistic missiles. Since then, the Yankees have never experimented with nuclear weapons aboard their aircraft carriers, giving them the role of a naval tactical system to dominate the sea in the event of a nuclear-free version of the Third World War. The World War did not happen, as a result of the "Aviaufly" wandered aimlessly across the oceans, periodically trying to participate in local conflicts. Where there was little sense from them - the Air Force aircraft decided everything in the air.
The aircraft carrier is invulnerable in the open ocean, but its strength rapidly decreases when approaching the coast. The Houkai and SuperHornnets are facing competition from coast-based fighters whose performance characteristics exceed head-of-board performance. What can make a small airplane AWAC "Hawk" against E-3 "Sentry" or domestic AWACS A-50U, where the mass of one equipment and antenna exceed the max. Hawk's take-off weight! It is equally ridiculous to compare the combat load of the “SuperHornet” (when taking off from a catapult) with some land monster of the Su-34 or F-15E type.
The same problem with the number - even on the largest aircraft carrier there can be no more than four dozen combat aircraft at a time. While on the coast they are waited for by an air force consisting of many dozens, if not hundreds of units of first-class aircraft.
The fact that the air force of most countries has less combat aircraft than on one American aircraft carrier is the problem of the air forces of these countries themselves. There is aviation - there are no problems with aircraft carriers. The Falkand epic (1982) clearly showed how cruel the squadron was from coast-based aviation (despite the fact that Argentine clowns had 6 anti-ship missiles on the whole theater, the only tanker aircraft, and the passenger Boeing flew for reconnaissance).
The third problem is geography. American AUG is not able to directly threaten Russia, because all important cities and industrial centers are located deep in the coast, and before the same Crimea it is easier and closer to fly from the Turkish airbase Injirlik than to drive an aircraft carrier into the Black Sea. AUGs have nothing to do in the "marquise puddles" of the Baltic or the Black Sea. On the other hand, continental Russia has no strategic interests in the oceans, we never depended on sea communications. Even in the most difficult years of WWII, we didn’t have much difference, as the fights took place in the open spaces in the Atlantic. We could not help the allies. And the sea - the boundless blue-green expanse - still no one’s.
Modern nuclear aircraft carriers could be justified in a serious nuclear-free conflict of the format "USSR vs USA", when the Yankees needed to send reinforcements across the ocean to Europe, fighting off Soviet submarines and aircraft attacking from all sides. In this case, AUGs could play a role - their combat stability can really be envied. Alas (or rather, fortunately) such stories - just plots for books in the genre of alternative history.
AUG is invulnerable while it wanders aimlessly around the ocean. But its strength in real operations is expressed in symbolic percentages. The result of all searches - from the usual discussions on the Internet to serious scientific research in the field of marine, rocket and space technology, was an understanding of a simple fact: there is no need to catch the "Elusive Joe" in the vast expanses of the sea, wasting time trillions of full-bodied rubles. If the actual use of AUG happens, the "Elusive Joe" will come by himself and immediately receive in the face from coastal aviation and air defense systems (as happened in Lebanon in the 1983 year).
SSGM Ave XNUMHA, armed with anti-ship missiles "Granit". Currently, the Russian Navy has 949 operating boats of this type. More 4 boats are under repair
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