Popular Science
Task & Purpose: China's Navy Could Build the Ultimate Weapon: Arsenal Ships
The Chinese navy may be putting a new spin on a classic warship: It’s looking into the possibility of giving missile-laden arsenal ships submersible properties, enabling them to hide stockpiles of missiles, undetectable to radar, below the ocean surface.
The Chinese are exploring two arsenal-ship versions, according to Popular Science: One is a high-speed surface warship that can submerge at will, while the second is more similar to a traditional submarine.
What could a submersible surface ship do that a conventional submarine can’t? It could go really fast on the surface, thanks to a hydroplaning hull, Popular Science reports:
For stealth operations, the arsenal ship would have most of its hull inherently submerged, with only the bridge and a few other parts of the ship above the waterline, reducing the radar cross section. But when traveling with a high-speed naval taskforce, the arsenal ship will sacrifice stealth to use its flat hull bottom to hydroplane at high speeds, cutting across the waves like a speedboat or amphibious armored vehicle.
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WNU Editor: The Chinese are definitely ambitious.
Would be a choice weapon to defend the Yellow Sea.
ReplyDeletePopular Science is too. Maybe it flies too?
ReplyDeleteThere is along way between the idea and the realization.
ReplyDelete