What if: French aircraft carrier Verdun (PA 58)
Sept 25, 2021 10:44:49 GMT
stevep, Zyobot, and 1 more like this
Post by lordroel on Sept 25, 2021 10:44:49 GMT
What if: French aircraft carrier Verdun (PA 58)
So with the Clemenceau class carriers soon to enter service, the French Navy launched an effort to build a larger carrier specifically with the nuclear strike role in mind. Construction of the carrier was considered in 1958 but due to cost the program was cancelled in 1961.
For more than 30 years, France would rely on the Clemenceau class to provide fixed wing aviation. These two ships were modified in the 1980s to accommodate AN52 nuclear bombs, taking part of the role of the cancelled Verdun. France built a new carrier finally in the form of the Charles de Gaulle at the end of the 1990s.
So what if one ore 2 Verdun-class carrier build.
Technical description:
The Verdun class would be propelled by Steam turbines on 4 shafts, producing a total of 200,000 shp, for a speed of 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph). Parking size inside was much enlarged as well as aicraft handling. The PA58 had two lifts admidships and wo capapults and an angled deck placed the same way as PA54. It was to be armed with two Masurca SAM systems placed at the end of the side sponsons and height standard 100 mm DP guns placed for and aft abaft the flight deck. The placement of these SAMs recalled the American Kitty Hawk class.
The air group would have been largely similar to the Clemenceau to the exception of a navalized version of the heavy Dassault Mirage IVM, which was envisioned. The plane weighted 20 tons which required significant modifications on the lifts and catapults compared to PA54. The air group nevertheless comprised a combination of ASW Alizé aircraft and Etendard fighter-bombers. In 1960 the admiralty saw delays accumulating due to financial problems and eventually envisioned a smaller, cheaper design without the Masurca SAM but it went nowhere and the whole program was discarded and abandoned in 1961.
- flight deck is 286 meters long and 58 meters wide.
- waterline is 262 meters long and 34 meters wide.
- inclined deck is 192 meters long and has an inclination angle of 8°.
- standard displacement is 35,000 tons, and the full load displacement is 45,000 tons.
- hangar is 200 meters long.
- catapults: two 75-meter steam catapults.
- lifts: two 17m*14m lifts.
- power unit: 8 boilers and 4 turbines, with a total horsepower of 200,000 horsepower, four-axle four-propeller propulsion, and a maximum speed of 33 knots;
- shipboard armament: two double-mounted SAM air defense missiles, 8 single-barreled MODEL 1953G 100 mm naval guns.
Images related to French aircraft carrier Verdun:
So with the Clemenceau class carriers soon to enter service, the French Navy launched an effort to build a larger carrier specifically with the nuclear strike role in mind. Construction of the carrier was considered in 1958 but due to cost the program was cancelled in 1961.
For more than 30 years, France would rely on the Clemenceau class to provide fixed wing aviation. These two ships were modified in the 1980s to accommodate AN52 nuclear bombs, taking part of the role of the cancelled Verdun. France built a new carrier finally in the form of the Charles de Gaulle at the end of the 1990s.
So what if one ore 2 Verdun-class carrier build.
Technical description:
The Verdun class would be propelled by Steam turbines on 4 shafts, producing a total of 200,000 shp, for a speed of 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph). Parking size inside was much enlarged as well as aicraft handling. The PA58 had two lifts admidships and wo capapults and an angled deck placed the same way as PA54. It was to be armed with two Masurca SAM systems placed at the end of the side sponsons and height standard 100 mm DP guns placed for and aft abaft the flight deck. The placement of these SAMs recalled the American Kitty Hawk class.
The air group would have been largely similar to the Clemenceau to the exception of a navalized version of the heavy Dassault Mirage IVM, which was envisioned. The plane weighted 20 tons which required significant modifications on the lifts and catapults compared to PA54. The air group nevertheless comprised a combination of ASW Alizé aircraft and Etendard fighter-bombers. In 1960 the admiralty saw delays accumulating due to financial problems and eventually envisioned a smaller, cheaper design without the Masurca SAM but it went nowhere and the whole program was discarded and abandoned in 1961.
- flight deck is 286 meters long and 58 meters wide.
- waterline is 262 meters long and 34 meters wide.
- inclined deck is 192 meters long and has an inclination angle of 8°.
- standard displacement is 35,000 tons, and the full load displacement is 45,000 tons.
- hangar is 200 meters long.
- catapults: two 75-meter steam catapults.
- lifts: two 17m*14m lifts.
- power unit: 8 boilers and 4 turbines, with a total horsepower of 200,000 horsepower, four-axle four-propeller propulsion, and a maximum speed of 33 knots;
- shipboard armament: two double-mounted SAM air defense missiles, 8 single-barreled MODEL 1953G 100 mm naval guns.
Images related to French aircraft carrier Verdun:
