New Chinese Aircraft Carrier Puts To Sea For The First Time

Today China joined the elite group of first tier navies.

Just months after David Cameron signalled Britain's withdrawal from the World stage by scrapping the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier capability,China's first aircraft carrier has put to sea on trials.

China will soon be one of only a handful of countries capable of delivering air power anywhere in the World without asking any country for permission.

Logistics:Land Versus Sea

Some people believe that moving things by ship is expensive.

But this single ship transports 237,766 barrels of fuel.

 To move that same amount would take 2,000 of these trucks,which would cost a lot more than a single ship.

This ship can be operated around the clock by just 24 men.

 To operate 2,000 of these trucks around the clock would take at least 4,000 men who would cost a lot more to employ than the 24 men on the ship.

Consequently moving things by land is far more expensive than moving things by sea.

Which is why "stuff" is moved by sea whenever it is practical to do so.


It is also the reason why logistics costs for a sea based expeditionary force are far lower than those of a land based expeditionary force.

                                                             

Survivability: Sea Basing Versus Land Basing

Analysis of warfare is a bit like mathematics.

You have to treat both sides of the equation equally or your conclusions will not make sense.

Such unbalanced nonsensical analysis is often used to claim that aircraft carriers are not capable of surviving in the modern battlespace.

An aircraft carrier can be attacked by an aircraft (if it can get past all the aircraft in the carrier's air wing) but that aircraft has to come from somewhere.

It may come from a sea base,another aircraft carrier,which is just as vulnerable to being attacked.

It may come from a land base which is far more vulnerable to being attacked than any aircraft carrier.

In the 65 years since the Second World War over a hundred air bases on land have been attacked,damaged,put out of action or even overrun in various conflicts.

In the 65 years since the Second World War not one aircraft carrier has ever been damaged by enemy fire let alone put out of action.

Why are air bases so much more vulnerable than aircraft carriers?

There is an oft repeated saying in the military.

"If you can find it, you can hit it. If you can hit it, you can kill it."

To find an aircraft carrier one must use submarines,surface ships or aircraft,all of which can be destroyed before they locate the carrier.

To find an air base one need only buy a map.

To attack an aircraft carrier one needs submarines,surface ships or aircraft to overcome it's air wing and escorts.



To attack an air base and the lines of communication it relies on one needs a road side bomb or a mortar;a rocket propelled grenade;a sniper rifle;a heavy machine gun or a ballistic missile based on Second World War era technology.

It is inherently easier to find and kill an airbase than to find and kill an aircraft carrier.

Which is why air bases have been destroyed so frequently both during and since the Second World War.

Not one aircraft carrier has been damaged by enemy fire in sixty five years because attacking an aircraft carrier is exceedingly difficult to do.

Particularly for a land based air force whose fixed air bases are subject to attack by the air wing of the aircraft carrier it has not located yet.