Soldiers Assault: Starting from the 7th Steel Company

Chapter 258 If we're going to do it, we must aim for the world's advanced level.
At the commendation meeting for all personnel of the General Assembly,

Minister Cao looked at Chen Jiang, his smile fading, replaced by solemnity and reverence.

He slowly stood up from the podium.

"Comrade Chen Jiang."

Chen Jiang quickly suppressed all distracting thoughts, tensed his body, stood at the most standard military posture, looked straight ahead with a firm gaze.

Minister Cao picked up a deep red hard-cover certificate with the national emblem printed on it from the table. The words "First-Class Merit Medal Certificate" were gleaming in gold lettering on the cover.

He solemnly handed it to Chen Jiang with both hands.

"Comrade Chen Jiang, in recognition of your extraordinary courage, exceptional wisdom, unwavering will, and boundless loyalty to the motherland, overcoming numerous difficulties and obstacles to successfully acquire cutting-edge technology and core data of milestone significance for my country's national defense modernization from abroad, making an extremely outstanding contribution to the country, after review and reporting by the Ministry and approval by higher authorities, you are hereby awarded a First-Class Merit! On behalf of the Ministry, I extend my warmest congratulations and highest respect to you!"

As soon as Minister Cao finished speaking, thunderous applause erupted throughout the room.

Everyone stared at this youngest section chief in the department with envy and admiration. With this first-class merit, he would be more confident of advancing his military rank in the future.

This is an honor that so many people dream of!
Chen Jiang took a deep breath and felt a surge of heat in his chest, almost rushing to his eyes.

He suppressed his excitement, stretched out his slightly trembling hands, and solemnly accepted the heavy certificate.

This is not just an honor, but also the weight of responsibility and sacrifice.

"Thank you, sir! Thank you for the organization's training and trust! I was just fulfilling the duty of a soldier!" Chen Jiang's voice was loud and slightly hoarse, every word coming from the bottom of his heart.

Minister Cao nodded, his eyes full of appreciation.

He then picked up an exquisite box, opened it, and inside was a gleaming, solemnly designed First-Class Merit Medal, with a bright red national flag ribbon.

"Here, let me put it on for you."

Chen Jiang lowered his head slightly, and Minister Cao personally and carefully pinned the medal pin above the left breast pocket of his uniform.

After putting on the salute, Minister Cao took a step back, examined it carefully, nodded in satisfaction, and then suddenly raised his right arm to give Chen Jiang a standard military salute.

Chen Jiang immediately raised his hand in return, and their eyes met. No further words were needed; everything was understood without being spoken.

Applause, even more enthusiastic applause!

Lasting
After the award ceremony, Chen Jiang once again focused his main efforts on promoting scientific research to enhance the combat capabilities of the navy and air force.

Having a prototype and an interceptor cable does not mean that an aircraft carrier has combat capability. There are still many scientific research and equipment involved in aircraft carriers, and we must overcome one difficulty after another.

Chen Jiang visited the Dalian Shipyard multiple times.
There, he saw the Varyag aircraft carrier for the first time, a ship he had heard countless times about in his previous life.

Compared to when it was first towed here, it has now entered the shipyard's dry dock, and the rust on its surface has long since disappeared. The next step is to modernize it.

But after looking at the modification drawings and listening to the expert's on-site explanation, he still couldn't help but frown.

Our aircraft carrier program began with the purchase of four aircraft carriers from abroad.

They are the Melbourne, Kiev, Minsk, and Varyag.

The first aircraft carrier to arrive, the HMAS Melbourne, was acquired under the guise of "scrap metal scrapping." This carrier had been commissioned as early as February 1945, and by the time it arrived in China in 1985, it was already 40 years old, and its overall condition was far from ideal. Furthermore, its most valuable features—the steam catapult, arresting gear, and propulsion system—had already been dismantled, leaving essentially only an empty hull.

The aircraft carriers "Kiev" and "Minsk" were both Project 1143 aircraft carriers of the Soviet Navy.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union, with its "nuclear-centric" ideology, also demonstrated a unique approach in the design and construction of its aircraft carriers. Almost all of its military vessels were equipped with missile launchers, so these two aircraft carriers were built in a rather "unconventional" way, and their carrier-based aircraft could only launch and recover helicopters and Yak-38 vertical takeoff and landing fighters, and they were even referred to as "aircraft-carrying cruisers".

Neither of these two aircraft carriers were very old when they entered China, and we did consider refitting them.

However, it was later discovered that to convert them into a true aircraft carrier, the island superstructure needed to be removed, the lower deck and hangar needed to be redesigned, and the flight deck used for launching and recovering carrier-based aircraft also needed to be rebuilt. The overall workload was about the same as rebuilding a ship!

Moreover, the 4-ton displacement of the Type 1143 is not satisfactory.

In contrast, because the Varyag was left unfinished for a long time, many of its auxiliary equipment were not installed, which greatly reduced the cost of modification.

Moreover, the ship is relatively new, and its fatigue level is quite satisfactory.

In addition, in terms of size, it adopts a ski-jump deck and has a displacement of 6 tons, which is sufficient for the take-off and landing of heavy carrier-based aircraft.

Therefore, the country decided to start with this aircraft carrier!
However, the modification plan that Chen Jiang is now facing is a minor change. Although it can adopt a ski-jump deck on the surface, which is much better than the previous Type 1143 aircraft carrier, it has not fundamentally deviated from the idea of ​​an "aircraft-carrying cruiser".

"That's too petty! We either don't build aircraft carriers at all, or we must build them to meet the world's advanced standards!" Chen Jiang stated firmly.

"The deck surface, except for the island superstructure which cannot be changed, should be completely removed! This will allow more space for carrier-based aircraft!" Chen Jiang emphasized. "Our future carrier-based aircraft will be roughly the same size as the SU-33. These heavy carrier-based aircraft occupy a large area, so the number of carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carrier will be very small. Therefore, we must not add any other equipment, thereby reducing the number of carrier-based aircraft."

The other experts exchanged bewildered glances. After a while, one of the older experts finally said, "Sir, our destroyers and frigates are not as strong as those of the United States. If the aircraft carrier itself doesn't have a certain level of defensive capability, then..."

"If we really need an aircraft carrier for self-defense, then we're basically doomed to lose this battle!" Chen Jiang was keenly aware of this. Future aircraft carriers will not only be platforms for the take-off and landing of carrier-based aircraft, but also command centers for carrier battle groups. They will house early warning aircraft; how can we function without sufficient space?
"Of course, our other warships are not very good right now, but that doesn't mean our future escort warships won't be good. Don't worry, they will get better and better. But our operational strategy cannot be changed. The aircraft carrier must prioritize the take-off and landing of carrier-based aircraft. Everything else can wait for now."

In Chen Jiang's mind, once the Type 055 destroyer is launched, will the carrier battle group still need its self-defense capabilities? Of course, he couldn't say these things, but what they needed to do was to make the best use of this aircraft carrier, which was intended for scientific research and experience exploration, according to their own intentions.

Chen Jiang's idea quickly reached Minister Cao, who summoned Chen Jiang, as it was a major event concerning the direction of the country's aircraft carrier construction.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the two got down to business.

"Chen Jiang, your aircraft carrier design concept is very bold and innovative, almost the same as that of the United States." Minister Cao's words were both an affirmation and a doubt.

Because he had heard other people's design ideas before, he basically wanted to leave the aircraft carrier with the necessary "self-defense" capabilities, such as close-in weapon systems and close-range anti-aircraft missiles.

"Sir, as it stands, the United States' aircraft carrier capabilities are unparalleled in the world. I can say without exaggeration that, at least through actual combat, their approach has been proven to be correct. In that case, we should first imitate them and then surpass them."

Chen Jiang spoke very frankly. Soldiers should be open and honest, especially in matters like this. There's no point in hiding anything.

"Our main problem is that we can't get our hands on an American aircraft carrier. Otherwise, using their carrier as a foundation would undoubtedly save us from many detours," Chen Jiang said, dropping a bombshell. "According to the latest intelligence, they are already working on electromagnetic catapults. This takeoff mode is much more efficient than the original steam catapults. But we can only take it one step at a time and start with ski-jump takeoff."

Currently, the main methods for launching aircraft from aircraft carriers worldwide are steam catapults and ski-jump launches.

Steam catapults are mainly used on American aircraft carriers. Their main feature is that the deck is completely flat. Heavy aircraft must have steam catapults to take off from the aircraft carrier.

Before takeoff, the tail is secured to a sturdy point, and a tow bar near the nose wheel drops into a shuttle that hooks the aircraft in the form of a hook.

Steam is supplied from boilers on the aircraft carrier, pressurized, and then fed into the shuttle.

The plane was running at full power when it took off, but was held down by the hold-down device.

Once the steam catapult is activated, the power from the aircraft engine combined with the steam pressure causes the steel ring to break, propelling the aircraft forward and reaching a speed of 250 km/h within a 45-meter distance.

After the aircraft is launched and detaches from the shuttle, the booster at the front of the piston falls into the water pool and stops within a few meters. The shuttle then moves back to its original position and propels another aircraft to take off.

This takeoff method allows each steam catapult on an aircraft carrier to launch two aircraft per minute.

Taking the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier as an example, in maximum sortie mode, three of its four catapult tracks are normally available for catapult launches, while the catapult located on the starboard side of the hull is actually used as a parking area and cannot be used for catapult launches.

Based on this calculation, six aircraft can take off per minute, which seems to be a low operational efficiency.

Aircraft carriers with ski-jump takeoff can launch far more aircraft per minute, which seems to be an advantage from that perspective.

In reality, each method has its advantages and disadvantages, but strictly speaking, the disadvantages of ski-jump takeoff are more obvious.

Chen Jiang frankly stated, "First, as we all know, ski-jump takeoff aircraft consume a lot of fuel, up to one-third of their fuel, greatly shortening their combat radius. This significantly reduces the loiter time of heavy fighters, and this disadvantage is even more pronounced when fully armed. Second, ski-jump takeoff places higher demands on pilots. In rough sea conditions, the turbulence of the ski-jump deck may make carrier-based aircraft more difficult to control during taxiing than catapult-launched aircraft. Third, ski-jump requires a longer runway and a larger deck area than catapult-launched aircraft of the same combat power, so the number of aircraft that can be carried is much smaller."

"Because of so many drawbacks, the United States did not choose the ski-jump method, and they are researching electromagnetic catapults. In this way, even the only drawback of low takeoff efficiency will be overcome, which is the most terrifying thing."

Minister Cao looked stern after hearing this.

He knew that our aircraft carrier program was just beginning, but he did not expect that the gap with the world's advanced level would be so large.

How does this relate to your design concept?

"Yes, we do have the necessary conditions right now, so we can only learn from the experience gained from the existing Varyag. What's wrong with ski-jump takeoff? It doesn't matter what kind of remedy it is, as long as it can draw out the pus, it's better than nothing, right?"

Minister Cao chuckled after hearing this, "You really are something else."

Chen Jiang continued, "The ski-jump takeoff can at least train our first batch of carrier-based pilots. As a platform, it is very valuable. Just imagine, if our pilots can adapt to the high difficulty of ski-jump takeoff, wouldn't it be much easier to work on steam catapults or even electromagnetic catapults in the future?"

"You little rascal, you really dare to dream! We don't even have steam catapults yet, and you're already thinking about electromagnetic catapults?" Minister Cao said with a laugh.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later! We started with millet and rifles, and now we have land, sea, and air power, don't we?" Chen Jiang said calmly. "By the way, sir, how's the development of carrier-based aircraft going?"

Although Chen Jiang obtained the prototype and blueprints, the specific research and development details were kept strictly confidential, and Chen Jiang had no authority to know them.

So the only option is to ask Minister Cao.

"What you need to know, you will know," Minister Cao said, keeping his mouth shut due to strict confidentiality regulations. But he still told Chen Jiang, "Don't worry, everything is going smoothly. Sooner or later we will have our own carrier-based aircraft!"

"That's good. After this thing is developed, I'd like to find an air force base and build a take-off and landing platform with the same angle of attack for carrier-based pilots to use for simulation training. We'll figure out the simple operations on land first, and then do the actual training at sea. That way, the risk factor will be lower."

"That's right, that's a good idea, and I agree with it! After all, if something goes wrong at sea, the plane could be destroyed and everyone on board could die. Our pilots are extremely valuable, especially the selected carrier-based pilots, who are incredibly precious!" Minister Cao strongly agreed with Chen Jiang's idea.

"You're right. Now that we're building an aircraft carrier, we should aim to learn from and surpass the world's advanced levels! We need to be bolder and take bigger steps!"

Minister Cao remarked with great emotion, "The Varyag will never be the end for our navy; it is merely the starting point for the rise of the Chinese navy. I am confident that in the near future, we will have everything that the United States possesses, and even better!"

(End of this chapter)