If you look at the satellite cloud image, you can see this spectacular scene. In a corner of the base, one after another warships are neatly arranged, especially the super aircraft carrier on the flat deck. Clear.
And if you look from the ground, you can see the towering chimneys of warships and the masts of warships, just like forests.
During the Cold War, the United States did not abandon its own warships, most of them were sealed up, including the old ships, and the entire warship cemetery was so spectacular.
Now, the group of people came here, still early in the morning, the sun rose from the east, sprinkling soft sunlight on the cemetery, the sea behind, sparkling.
"A total of five aircraft carriers have been sealed up here, all of which are Essex-class aircraft carriers." Since the superiors have agreed, Oaks, the head of the base, accompanied him: "However, some have been sealed up for a long time. Now, such an aircraft carrier may be re-opened, which will cost more money."
With his introduction, the sealed aircraft carriers can already be seen from a distance, and the deck of one of them is green.
"What's going on?" Admiral John asked.
"That's the Shangri-La." Oakes said: "It has been sealed for more than ten years. During the Vietnam War, we didn't reopen it. You have also seen it. It has moss."
This aircraft carrier was also a World War II aircraft carrier. Later, although the angled deck was also modified, it was decommissioned shortly afterwards. At the same time, its deck is still a wooden deck.
That's right, the deck of the aircraft carrier is also wooden.
In the beginning, the aircraft carrier was made of wooden decks. The wooden flight decks were simple to manufacture, equipped with a large number of carrier-based aircraft, and also served as a buffer when landing.
However, the protection performance is poor. In the event of an attack, shells or bombs can easily penetrate the wooden flight deck, fall into the ship's body and explode, destroying the aircraft carrier.
However, this is not suitable for Britain. Due to the bad Atlantic weather, the open bows of early British aircraft carriers were easily damaged by storms. Moreover, the changeable weather makes it very likely that British aircraft carriers will be attacked by German land-based bombers or attack ships.
At the same time, the geographical location determines that the British aircraft carrier has a strong land-based fighter cover, so there is not much demand for the aircraft carrier's attack capability. In this situation, the British aircraft carrier must have a closed bow, strong horizontal armor, and a small number of carrier-based aircraft is fine.
Therefore, after 1941, the newly built British aircraft carriers were all sealed hulls, with an armored flight deck of 78 mm thick and capable of resisting 250 kg of aerial bombs, but the number of carrier-borne aircraft was only half of that of the American aircraft carriers of the same tonnage.
The British aircraft carrier with steel armored flight deck has gradually become a trend, but the US Navy definitely does not follow suit.
For the United States, steel decks are unnecessary. For them, the best defense is offense. There are many aircraft on the carrier, and you can kill the opponent in one dispatch. Although it is easy to be sunk, the opponent has no chance at all! Why do you want a steel armored flight deck! Therefore, the aircraft carriers built by the US military during World War II were all wooden flight decks.
These retired aircraft carriers are also made of wood. Looking at the deck of this aircraft carrier that has begun to grow moss from a distance, several people are embarrassed. Such an aircraft carrier is definitely not required. If you go back and modify it, it is definitely astronomical. Numbers are even more expensive than new ones!
In fact, they didn't know that the other Essex-class aircraft carriers that had been improved were actually wooden decks, but they were only covered with a layer of metal on the wooden decks.
(I don’t know whether the information is true or false.)
"In front is our Oriskani. Everyone should be familiar with this aircraft carrier." Oakes said: "It has also sailed in formation with British navy ships. It only came here three years ago. ."
The USS Oriskani is the No. 17 ship of the Essex-class aircraft carrier, and unofficially, it is also the No. 7 ship of the Essex-class with a long hull. To commemorate the Battle of Oriskani in the American Revolutionary War, it is already the third warship of the same name.
It is relatively new. Construction began at the Brooklyn Shipyard in New York in 1944 and was launched two months after the end of World War II.
Since World War II has ended and the jet age has arrived, this warship has been postponed for service, and even part of the superstructure has been demolished, and improvements have been made one after another until it officially entered service in 1950.
After the transformation, the Oriskani served briefly in the Atlantic Fleet, and then joined the Pacific Fleet to participate in the Korean War. After the Korean War, the Oriskani continued on duty in the Pacific Fleet, and in 1959, it was converted to SCB-125A, adding an angled flight deck and a closed bow.
At this time, it already has what it is now.
In 1965, the Oriskani began to participate in the Vietnam War and cruised to the Western Pacific eight times during the war until the official end of the war in 1975. As an old ship, it has also participated in many battles, and even had many accidents, especially the flares fire, which almost caused the captain to be dragged down.
After the end of the Vietnam War, in 1976, the Oriskani was retired and began to be sealed in the reserve fleet.
Now, it has only been sealed for three years, and it can be pulled out at any time.
Admiral John and Major General Wuward both knew about this aircraft carrier. Now, they are excited and stepped on the aircraft carrier. On the large flight deck, there is still a part of the special anti-skid coating. The whole aircraft carrier is not There are not too many signs of rust.
"It seems to be well preserved." Admiral John was very happy.
"Yes, this aircraft carrier was originally our reserve force. In fact, the senior management is not very willing. Therefore, if you decide, you should come and drive it away as soon as possible. If the senior management regrets it, I am afraid it will not be done. "
After all, this was a free gift, and Nathan's urging made the other party even more tempted.
In fact, the preservation of this aircraft carrier is not good. The general sealing of aircraft carriers is done by specialized shipping companies. However, the retiring of this aircraft carrier was at the end of the Vietnam War and the period when military expenditures were reduced. The sealing of aircraft carriers was not What the company is doing is done by the officers and soldiers on the aircraft carrier. Such a level is simply not feasible.
The time is still short and it can't be seen. In later generations, after Reagan came to power, he planned to revive the navy and pull out the aircraft carrier, but found that it was impossible to use it again. (End of this chapter)