since they r there, why not train for Arctic ops on their unsinkable NZ carrier?
What?
the island of Novaya Zemlya is where that base is.
If you served in the US Navy then you didn't pay much attention.... a 3knt speed wouldn't be enough to sail into a sea current in some places...
I wasn't in the QM rating to know it; 5-6kts will be fine then.
A big (expensive) Nuclear powered (expensive) propulsion barge is not supposed to be mobile like a carrier. There is no conclusive proof it would even work and even if it worked perfectly and there were no problems at all it is essentially a fixed airfield at sea...
we r talking about 2 different concepts: a large floating airfield & big barges/ships joined together to form a smaller airbase but as big as, or bigger than a CVN.
Training in the regions the CV will be based makes complete sense.
exactly, but if the basing location is wrong, training there won't be any good.
It wont be picking fights with anyone....
the US/UK &/ their allies may force them to fight.
You have things arse about again as usual... the purpose of the Kuznetsov is to provide air cover and early warning... it is not there with 20 ships protecting it...
they still need to build a lot of FFG/DDG/CGs for other tasks anyway; now there's nothing to deploy far outside of the land based aviation on regular basis, nor there's a valid reason to.
China wants the North sea route developed to carry trade to EU and from EU to Asia... not sure they want to boost trade with the US.
they already did send their icebreaker there, so could use that route to bring containers directly to the US/Canadian East Coast.
Why waste time with steam cats? That would be stupid.
if the improvised CV won't be long enough &/ the EMALS won't be ready or reliable enough.
Nothing would be saved... it would be chaotic and not as mobile or effective as a CVN... and probably cost a lot more.
not any more chaotic than now, with ships plugging gaps between fleets all the time. Any icebreaker can have a nose bulb added to increase its speed in ice free water & removed again before returning to NSR work.
The NP cargo ship Sevmorput could also be used to tow & support converted & joined aviation ships.
It'll most certainly cost a lot more to build & operate CVNs instead.
Russia has no reason to invade either country.
pretty soon she may have, time will tell!
..no such expansions in the BS...
u forgot that
they recently built a big new naval base at Novorossiysk (& have plans to refurbish the old sub base in Balaclava), as well as in Makhachkala on the Caspian that will free up space in Astrakhan where many corvettes could be based, if need be.
a lot of other big ships & subs must be built, & they don't have many shipyards to do it.
They already have.
even if so, it takes them a long time to refit the old & build new ships/subs. New icebreakers r the priority now as far as NP surface ships r concerned- they r needed to replace the old & add more for the increased use of the NSR.
the Brits had better colonies, diplomacy & banking system; now they r backed by the US, so they can still afford them, esp. since they r not even CVNs.
They can't afford the ships they have and now find themselves unable to afford to buy escorts, so they have two carriers but no decent escort ships... ridiculous.
other navies will escort them, just like NZ C-130s that can be escorted by other AFs fighters.
And people criticise the Russian Navy who seem to be planning and doing everything sensibly and methodically.
no, it doesn't "seem to be" so for many. On top of everything else, the top brass order too many VIP boats to ride in.
If converted ships and NP icebreakers could do what a CV or CVN could do then there would be no CVNs.... the Soviets and British already experimented with mini carriers with VSTOL fighters and they were

useless and not really cheaper at all when you include the cost of ships lost for lack of decent AWACS and fighter coverage.
Only USSR/RF had/s NP icebreakers; the USSR could afford TAVKRs, & only now they r thinking about building CVNs.
Russia could take the US sea base idea using modified tankers a step farther & create a platform as big or bigger than the Nimitz/Ford CVN. It won't need to store heavy ordinance & a lot of fuel/spares if it's mission will be, as u say, to protect the fleet.
It wasn't their size or strength that was the problem.
whatever their main problem was, such a combo would eliminate it in the bud, & w/o creating other problems.
Last edited by Tsavo Lion on Wed Mar 17, 2021 3:44 am; edited 4 times in total (Reason for editing : add links)