Aircraft carriers in and after the Twilight War

[Mohoender]

Carriers have been discussed several times of course but how many of them would have been truly available remains open to question. Here is my take based on v1.0. First, the USA

CVL28 "Cabot": after serving until 1989 with the Spanish Navy as the Dedalo, the ship was returned to the US to become a museum ship. When the private organization which had taken over the ship proved unable to pay its creditors, it was taken over by the navy. Given it's relative good shape and growing international tensions, it is again modernized by the US Navy, put back into commission carrying a small group of AV8B and sent to the Carribean to serve with the reestablished but painfully weak 4th Fleet.

CV16 "Lexington" The official training carrier of the US Navy, the tensions had forced to postpone its replacement and the ship is still operating by 1995. He is then, again, fitted with a number of weapon systems (in fact phalanx AD systems) and remains the dedicated trainer carrier of the US Navy. It's only after the Barent's Sea disaster that it is fully commissioned to the Atlantic. Unable to operate the most modern aircrafts, its group is operating refurbished A4 Skyhawk operated by USMC pilots and a number of S3 Viking. It performs escort missions and participate in the large chase of still very active soviet submarines taking place.

CVB41 "Midway"
CVB43 "Coral Sea"
CV59 "Forrestal"
CV60 "Saratoga"
CV61 "Ranger"
CV62 "Independence"
CV63 "Kitty Hawk"
CV64 "Constellation"
CVN65 "Enterprise"
CV66 "America"
CV67 "JFK"
CVN68 "Nimitz"
CVN69 "Dwight D. Eisenhower"
CVN70 "Carl Winson"
CVN71 "Theodore Roosevelt"
CVN72 "Abraham Lincoln"
CVN73 "Georges Washington"
CVN74 "John C. Stennis"
CVN75 "Harry S. Trumman" While work on this ship had been started in 1993, it accelerated significantly by 1994 and the ship was commissioned prior to the operation in the Barent's Sea. It is, then, lost within the Barent's Sea when, security malfunctions result in the crew being unable to save her.
CVN76 "Ronald Reagan" Although never commissioned work on this Ship had started in 1994 and it was launched in late 1996. It was almost ready for commission when the exchange took place and now lay where it was, slowly rusting as nobody has the means to take it over.

[Mohoender]

Second USSR

I don't consider Moskva and Leningrad to be carriers but I would count 8 aircraft carriers for the Soviet Union by 1995 if it had not collapsed at all. Work on an additional one could have been started but, as someone pointed out, these were never intended for offensive purpose. While their defensive capability is respectable, their offensive power is much weaker than that of US carriers.

2 Ulyanovsk-class Nuclear Carriers carrying 27 Su-33, 10 Mig-29K (added only after the war started), 10 Su-25, 4 Yak-44 and 15-20 kamov
Ulyanovsk
Kremlin

2 Kuznetsov-class Carriers carrying 12 Su-33, 10 Mig-29K, 10 Su-25, 4 Yak-44 and 15-20 Kamov (air group augmented to its war level)
Kuznetsov
Varyag

4 Kiev-class Carriers carrying 20 Yak-141 and 12 Kamov (Air component deployed as initially planned. Moreover, Yak-141 have replaced Yak-38 by 1995, seriously boosting these ships capabilities) with the exception of Baku which has been modernized under project 11430 and now carries 24 Mig-29K, 2 Yak-44 and 5-6 Kamov.
Kiev
Baku
Minsk
Novorossiysk

[Mohoender]

Third and last, the Others

UK still only has its 3 Invincible-class aircraft carrier but with an augmented airgroup which is now composed of 18 Harrier and 10 helicopters.
Invincible
Illustrious
Ark Royal

Given the global situation of 1995, steel cuts had started by 1997 to produce two major aircraft carriers but it didn't go any further.

By the year 2000, France operates 4 aircraft carriers and has, by far, the most powerful surviving carrier complement.
2 Clemenceau-class Aircraft Carriers both carrying 40 aircraft and helicopters. On Clemenceau the aircraft complements is composed of 8 Rafale M, 15 Super Etendard, 4 Etendard IVP, 8 Aliz and 4-5 helicopters but on Foch it remains 8 Crusaders (an additional 9 remain in reserve for eventual replacements until more Rafale M can be produce; since Foch operates in the Mediterranean, priority for Rafale deliveries is currently given to the Arme de l'Air), 15 Super Etendard, 4 Etendard IVP, 8 Aliz and 4-5 helicopters.
Foch
Clemenceau
2 Charles de Gaulle-class Nuclear Carriers both carying 18 Rafale M, 12 Super Etendard, 4 Etendard IVP (E2C had never been delivered) and 5-6 helicopters
Richelieu
Charles de Gaulle

Italy
Garibaldi

Spain
Principe de Asturias
Dedalo Obviously, this is not the original Dedalo but the carrier that should have become Chakri Naruebet. Work on the ship had started in 1994, it was launched in 1996 and ready by the early 1997. Insteed of being delivered to the Thai Navy, the ship is taken over by the Spanish navy which, then, receives a few additional harriers from the USA.

India
Viraat
Vikrant


Brazil
"Minas Gerais" Fully operational by 1997 but solely performing anti-submarine duties and lacking any jet aircrafts.

Argentina
"Veinticinco de Mayo" confined to port since 1986 and unable to go to sea.

[dragoon500ly]

Looks like you caught all of the serviceable decks, good work!

Only issue that I see is the air group for the USS Lexington, the Essex/Hancock-classes flight deck is too small to support the S-3. Most likely the ASW group whould have been SH-2, SH-3 or SH-60 helos only. I would also see the Lady Lex's training mission to be of more importance than bringing a marginal flight deck up to combat speed. Of course, after the nukes start being tossed around, that would rapidly change.

[Mohoender]

Looks like you caught all of the serviceable decks, good work!

Only issue that I see is the air group for the USS Lexington, the Essex/Hancock-classes flight deck is too small to support the S-3. Most likely the ASW group whould have been SH-2, SH-3 or SH-60 helos only. I would also see the Lady Lex's training mission to be of more importance than bringing a marginal flight deck up to combat speed. Of course, after the nukes start being tossed around, that would rapidly change.

I wouldn't have expected that, thanks for the info. Then, I would tend to replace them with refitted S2 Tracker. Might not be ideal in term of realism but I always loved the Tracker and Canada might have been willing to sale his fleet back to US. Or may be they are serviced by Canadian crews.

[dragoon500ly]

I wouldn't have expected that, thanks for the info. Then, I would tend to replace them with refitted S2 Tracker. Might not be ideal in term of realism but I always loved the Tracker and Canada might have been willing to sale his fleet back to US. Or may be they are serviced by Canadian crews.

I don't know about the Tracker reentering US service. This is from the 14th edition of The Ships and Aircraft of the US Navy.

"The last US Navy S-2 series Tracker ASE aircraft was discarded in March 1986. The last US Navy Tracker was an ES-2D configured as a range support aircraft. The last ASW variant was an S-2G retired from VS-37 in August 1976."

According to the 13th edition, that ES-2D was one of four surviving aircraft. So there would not be a lot of type-qualified pilots or ground crew remaining by the time the war kicks off.

The only issue I see with the Canadians returning their Trackers is, just what will they replace the aircraft with Production of the Aurora would not be enough to cover the gap left by removing these aircraft.

[Legbreaker]

Thats a very good point about aircraft (and applies to all other tech too). Although the US might want the return of all the items they've handed over/sold to other countries, those recipient countries wouldn't have accepted/bought them if they themselves didn't have a use for them.
In other words, they're not coming back...

[Mohoender]

Thats a very good point about aircraft (and applies to all other tech too). Although the US might want the return of all the items they've handed over/sold to other countries, those recipient countries wouldn't have accepted/bought them if they themselves didn't have a use for them.
In other words, they're not coming back...

Who ever said they are coming back US still had plenty of A4 Skyhawk especially from USMC and I'm sure that a fair number could still be refurbished from storage. A few more could have been bought back as for exemple those from Kuwait. Last, I don't know if any were already operated by civilians or agencies such as NASA but these would simply be taken back.

When it comes to S2 Tracker, several were also available, France would probably have sold its complement back to US if required despite neutrality and more important, I stated that they were probably manned by Canadian crews. I never said they had been sent back to US. I might be wrong but having Canadian pilots operating from a US carrier providing escort to NATO supply ships over the Atlantic prior to the nukes doesn't sound that impossible or irrealistic (In fact, some crews might even be Australian, New Zealandese or Turkish). Of course, Australian, Canadian or Turks can all be from traitorous countries full of cowards refusing to collaborate fully with their allies. Just teasing this is left to French and Italians.

Still, most of the carrier complement would probably be made of helicopters. Harrier could be used as well but I think they would be put to a better use elsewhere.

By the way, finding pilots for these aircrafts would be the easiest of things and will not need much than a few hours of complementary training. I'm sure that by 1996, you simply had to shoot in a trash can to get about 10 retired USMC/Navy pilots who would have been more than happy and ready to serve again. I'm of course equally convinced that canadian pilots who had been doing fishery protection duties/under retirement would be as reluctant to such an assignment.

[95th Rifleman]

Realisticly, how long would the lifespan of a carrier be in a full-blown shooting war They are the number one naval target, both east and west have a whole fleet of subs desighned with the single purpose of hunting and killing these things.

[Mohoender]

Good point Rifleman but to achieve what you imply you need to have the means and power to destroy them. In Twilight, USSR has lost this capability over the Atlantic by late 1996. If not for the major strategic mistake of NATO in June 1997, NATO's fleet to the Atlantic would have survived.

Then, survivability of an older carrier performing escort missions and focussing on anti-sub warfare is quite good while it can only be opposed by submarines. Moreover, the main target is no longer the carrier but the ships it escorts.

Amusing enough, I just checked the Wiki on anti-submarine aircraft carriers and here is what it states:

"Essex class during their careers ships fitted and assigned the CVS designation were ASW carriers with Fixed wing and helicopter anti-submarine aircraft and AEW aircraft, although for a short time some also carried an A-4 Skyhawk squadron for daytime combat air patrol(retired/scrapped) Fixed Wing CATOBAR and Helicopters".

I sware I didn't know and simply used logic. It appears that I came up with what seems to be almost the exact USN complement on that matter.

By 1980, this role was assigned to Tarrawa and then Wasp but, with these ships already busy, wouldn't the US Navy be simply smart and use what was available as it had always done in its past I agree that putting the other surviving Essex might be tricky but Lexington was still ready to go to Sea by 1991 (as was Dedalo by 1989). Even if not assigned to combat duties, they are re-armed to some extend and assigned to aircraft transport. Then, however, it stands a good chance to be sunk.

[dragoon500ly]

Realisticly, how long would the lifespan of a carrier be in a full-blown shooting war They are the number one naval target, both east and west have a whole fleet of subs desighned with the single purpose of hunting and killing these things.

No one knows for certain (thank GAWD!), but a modern carrier battle group is going to take a lot of effort and a lot of luck to take out of action. Take for example the Saratoga Battle Group in 1993.

This consists of CV-60 Saratoga escorted by the guided missile cruisers CG-19 Dale, CG-34 Biddle, CF-51 Thomas S. Gates and CG-58 Philippine Sea, the primary ASW escorts are the destroyers DD-968 Arthur W. Radford, DD-980 Moosbrugger, DD-974 Comte de Grasse, DD-997 Hayler with the "figs" FFG-24 Jack Williams, FFG-26 Gallery, FFG-29 Stephen W. Groves, and FFG-32 John L. Hall. In support are the subs SSN-676 Billfish and SSN-705 City of Corpus Christi.

The Saratoga has Carrier Air Wing 17 embarked, this consists of VF-74 and VF-103 (9 F-14B ea), VFA-81, and VFA-83 (10 F/A-18C each), VA-35 (10 A-6E), VAQ-132 (4 EA-6B), VAW-125 (4 E-2C), VS-30 (6 S-3B and HS-15 (6 SH-60F and 2 HH-60H).

So what does this bring to the table
Saratoga is armed 3 Mk29 NATO Sea Sparrow SAM launchers (72 msls) and 3 Mk15 Phalanx.

Dale is a "Leahy"-class 'double-ended' (two twin msl launchers) cruiser and adds 80 SM2ER Sams and 8 Harpoon SSMs.

Biddle is a "Belknap" class 'single-ended' (single twin msl launcher) cruiser and adds 60 SM2ER SAMs and 8 Harpoon to the battle group's defense and a
SH-2F ASW helicopter.

The Thoms S. Gates and Philipine Sea are both "Bunker Hill" class AEEGIS cruisers with 2 60-cell vertical missile launchers, this means that they can be armed with any combination of SM2MR Block III SAMs, Tomahawks or VL ASROC a typical loadout would be 90 SM2MRs, 18 Tomahawks and 14 VL ASROCs. In addition 8 Harpoon SSMs are also carried as well as 2 SH-60 ASW helicopters

Radford, Moosbrugger, Comte de Grasse and Hayler are all "Improved Spruance"-class destroyers refitted with a modified 61-cell vertical missile launcher. They add 24 NATO Sea Sparrow missiles, 57 Tomahawk and 8 Harpoon SSMs and 4 VL ASROC and 2 SH-60 ASW helicopters apiece.

Jack Williams, Gallery, Stephen W. Groves, and John L. Hall are all "Oliver Hazard Perry"-class guided missile frigates. Each one brings in 36 SM1MR SAMs, 4 Harpoon SSMs and 2 SH-60 ASW helicopters.

City of Corpus Christi is armed with 12 Tomahawk and 6 Harpoon SSMs and 20 Mk48 ADCAP torpedoes.

Billfish is armed with 4 Harpoon SSM and 20 Mk48 ADCAP torpedoes.

As you can see, the 'Lady Sara' and her escorts are in a good position to create a lot of damage to any Soviet air strike and have formidable ASW defenses as well. The Soviets (needless to say) can be expected to make a maximum strength effort to damage or sink her.

[dragoon500ly]

Since A-4s were brought up, here is what the USN/USMC actually had in service as the Twilight War approached.

The Navy had 4 Fleet Composite Squadrons:
VC-1 with TA-4J; VC-5 with A-4E and TA-4J; VC-8 with TA-4J and VC-10 with TA-4J. A fleet composite squadron was assigned the duties of dissimilar air combat maneuvering; noncombat aerial photography; aerial target services; radar calibration and transport. A variety of additional aircraft are operated by the VC squadrons. VC-1 and VC-10 were the only ones assigned combat missions being tasked with air defense of the Hawaiian Islands and Guantanamo Bay respectively. These four squadrons operate some 24 A-4s all told.

2 Fighter Squadrons:
VF-45 and VF-126 are equipped with the TA-4J. Both provide adversary training (Top Gun) at NAS Miramar and NAS Oceana respectively, (12ac each)

6 Training Squadrons:
VT-7, VT-21, VT-22, VT-24, VT-25 and VT-86 provide strike and advanced night flight operations training for Navy, Marine Corps and goreign pilots. They are equipped with TA-4J. These are the aircraft that USS Lexington supports in its training role (there are 16 ac in each sqn).

2 Air Test and Evaluation Squadrons:
VX-4 with TA-4J and VX-5 with A-4M/T and TA-4J. These squadrons test and evaluate aerial weapon systems. VX-4 is stationed at NAS Point Mugu and VX-5 is stationed at NAS China Lake. The VX squadrons operate a variety of aircraft (it is estimated that some 10 A-4s are operated by these 2 sqns)

The 4th Marine Aircraft Wing (Marine reserves) operate all of the remaining USMC A-4 squadrons, these are VMA-124, VMA-131, VMA-133, VMA-134, VMA-142 and VMA-322 (12ac each).

These 226 A-4/TA-4 are all that is left of the total production run of 2,960
A-4s in US service.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

What about Thailand's carrier Either rusting away or now a key element in regional alliance with Australia, Japan, Korea, etc.

[Mohoender]

What about Thailand's carrier Either rusting away or now a key element in regional alliance with Australia, Japan, Korea, etc.

Pressed into Spanish service and operating in the Atlantic or the Mediterranean. I named it Dedalo but its name can be whatever you want. It never reaches the Pacific

[dragoon500ly]

1993, Morskaya Aviatsiya

Soviet Maritime Aviation in 1993 had fallen in strength from its Cold War days.

It had in service:

1,136 fixed wing, including:

117 Reconnaissance: 50 Tu-95 Bear D, 55 Tu-16 Badger A/C/D/E/F, and 12 Su-24 Fencer E

94 Electronic Warfare: 77 Tu-16 Badger H/J, 14 Il-20 Coot A, 5 An-12 Cub

295 bombers: 150 Tu-22M Backfire B/C, 145 Tu-16 Badger A/C/G

380 attack fighters: 170 Su-17/20 Fitter A/C/D, 50 MiG-23 Flogger B, 5
MiG-29 FulcrumD, 5 Su-27K Flanker, 50 Su-25 Frogfoot and 100 Su-24 Fencer E

50 Aerial Tankers: 50 Tu-16 Badger A

200 ASW/Maritime Patrol: 65 Tu-95 Bear F, 45 Il-38 May and 90 Be-12 Mail

425 helicopters including:

275 ASW Helos: 75 Ka-25 Hormone A, 100 Ka-27PL Helix A and 100 Mi-14PL Haze A

25 target designation: 25 Ka-25 Hormone B

25 mine countermeasures: 25 Mi-14PL Haze-A

100 miscellaneous including Hook, Hip-C, Helix B/D, Haze B, Hormone C

and finally there are some 480 fixed wing and helicopters (training, transport, experimental, etc.) available.

All of the Tu-22 Blinders have been removed from service and the large numbers of Tu-16 Badger variants are being removed from service due to their age.