Thread 64510708

What's the point of a nuclear powered carrier? A submarine sure, it allows it to stay at sea for months but a carrier?

The planes need fuel and weapons.
The crew is much larger than a submarine crew and so can't carry all the food they need with them.
Most importantly, carriers don't travel alone and have an entire strike group to protect them. All those escort ships are not nuclear powered and will need regular refueling and supply.

Is it just a superpower flex or am I missing something/being retarded?

FAST

>>64510708 (OP)
>what's the point
Less space used for fuel = more space to put other shit in it. Need more reasons?

>>64510708 (OP)
Because it means a carrier can go from one side of the planet to the other without stopping to refuel. It can also do so faster than any conventionally powered vessel of its size. It also means a carrier can have some stupidly power hungry equipment installed and not even blink.
>well the rest of the CSG
That's the neat part, everything in a CSG that's not a CV is cheap by comparison so you can have multiple ships of the same class rotating in and out as needed, or even have an entirely new group waiting for a CVN from one ocean to another.
>is it just a superpower flex
Yes.

>>64510708 (OP)
The carrier has massive fuel tanks that it uses to refuel its strike group. Nuclear power allows it to use significantly less of that fuel itself, freeing up huge amounts of space for carrying avgas, food, and other supplies.

>>64510708 (OP)
>The planes need fuel and weapons.
>The crew is much larger than a submarine crew and so can't carry all the food they need with them.
if you don't have to carry a fuckload of fuel oil, you can carry a lot more of all those things, jackass

>>64510708 (OP)
>Is it just a superpower flex
when people do something, always assume they had a good reason

in the case of a carrier, fuel is easily one of the largest, bulkiest, and most time consuming things to resupply
and because a carrier is so big, it needs a lot more fuel oil
replacing that with nuclear power makes a lot of sense because you cut out the hardest part of the ship to resupply
to say nothing of the performance gains, a nuclear carrier is extremely fast as a result of its power source

>>64510720
What about the multiple gigantic nuclear reactors and shielding you just installed

>>64510781
>Can go one side to the other without refueling
But it does need resupply because the humans on board aren't nuclear powered

>It can go faster
This isn't exactly true. Nuclear vessels do not always have higher top speeds than conventional vessels. What they can do is travel at maximum speed without caring about fuel. BUT it can never do this in war because it requires cover from ifs strike group.

>>64511126
Yes, but they also have waaay more horsepower than is required to reach their max speed, it’s just because of the way drag works on ships you can’t really push it past a certain point no matter how much power you add.
This does give nuke ships the unique ability though to hit close to their regular flank speed in extremely adverse wheather conditions.
there is basically nothing on earth that can keep up with a nuclear carrier through a hurricane.

>>64510708 (OP)
>so can't carry all the food they need with them.
it's okay, we just send the ice cream barge

>>64510708 (OP)
More power, longer trips, plus the ability to use the steam to power the catabar. Otherwise you have to make do with a cope slope.

>>64510714
faster than the escorts?

>>64511126
>But it does need resupply because the humans on board aren't nuclear powered
You can bring the people fuel to the big boat where ever it is though

>>64511196
Yes

>>64511126
>because the humans on board are not nuclear powered
Why not?
We’ll have to rectify that.

>>64511126
>But it does need resupply because the humans on board aren't nuclear powered
the amount of supplies the humans need is vastly smaller than the amount of fuel a carrier burns
and refueling takes longer than restocking dry goods

>. Nuclear vessels do not always have higher top speeds than conventional vessels
the top speed of the nimitz is classified, but it is confirmed to be able to go at least 30 knots, whereas the british QE carrier has only ever hit that at flank speed
and while it cant maintain that speed for long or else it will outpace its escorts, thats still useful for tactical purposes