The U.S. military has detonated a 20-tonne bomb next to the new Gerald R Ford aircraft
supercarrier.
The explosion was so powerful that it registered 3.9 on the Richter Scale.
The blast is comparable to 100 modern depth charges exploding simultaneously.
The test was what the U.S. Navy calls a “Full Ship Shock Trial,” and warships are not
considered ready for combat without successfully facing one.
The U.S. Navy was keen to point out that precautions that had been taken to ensure
the test, “complies with environmental mitigation requirements, respecting known migration patterns
of marine life in the test area".
This is the first of the 3 blasts.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why U.S Navy has exploded a 20-tonne bomb near
the new USS Gerald R Ford supercarrier ?
Let's get into the details.
Nimitz class carriers have been the face of the US Navy and have enabled power projection
far off from the US homeland.
USS Nimitz, the lead ship of the Nimitz class was commissioned in 1975.
The Nimitz class has been able to accommodate many new technologies over the decades, but
the Nimitz design has now reached its threshold and this is where Ford class comes in.
Ford-class supercarriers are being built to replace some of the United States Navy’s
existing Nimitz-class carriers.
The first ship of this class is USS Gerald R. Ford.
It is the costliest single military assist in the world.
The ships of this class are expected to be in service with the US Navy till 2065.
The carriers have been envisaged to be more efficient and future-proof.
The new vessels have a hull & displacement similar to the Nimitz class but introduce
many new technologies.
Full Ship Shock Trials (FSSTs) include large blasts designed to mimic real-world scenarios.
The U.S Navy’s shock trial event is the first of its kind on any class of ship since
2016, aims to prove the new carrier can withstand a hit in combat.
As reported in Defense News, Lt. Cmdr.
Desiree Frame.
a Ford spokeswoman stated the ship will go through two more scheduled blasts in June
and July.
She said, “In a shock trial, a ship undergoes three 40,000-pound explosive charge detonations
which occur successively closer to the ship,” The exact dates for each blast are dependent
on sea state, weather, marine mammal activity and several other factors.
Frame added, prior to the blast, the U.S Navy planned the event “using advanced computer
modeling methods, testing, and analysis to ensure the ship is hardened to withstand battle
conditions, and these shock trials provide data used in validating the shock hardness
of the ship”
Viewers may note that the entire ship is specifically prepared for the trials with thousands of
miles of cabling to support external test equipment and sensors.
The last time trials like this were carried out on an American supercarrier was 34 years
ago with the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71).
American Ford-class supercarrier is one of the most complex pieces of engineering in
the world.
There are many upgrades when compared to the Nimitz class supercarrier which is itself
an engineering marvel.
For example, Nimitz-class super-carriers got planes moving for takeoff using steam-actuated
catapults whereas Ford-class uses Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) which uses
linear induction motor with an electric current to generate a magnetic field that propels
a carriage down a track.
The two Bechtel A1B nuclear reactors installed on USS Gerald R. Ford are capable of producing
300 MW of electricity, triple the 100 MW of each Nimitz-class vessel.
The huge power supply provides for the legroom, required for future expansions like inducting
Lasers and Electromagnetic Rail Guns.
Also, Ford-class uses extensive automation to make the ship operate more efficiently.
Battle shocks are realities and bottom line is that a naval asset especially a supercarrier
needs to be able to take a nearby explosion and continue to fight.
It is important that all components of the warship continue to function even if a major
explosion occurs close to the warship.
A blast can occur explosions could come from anti-ship missiles, naval mines, torpedoes,
or even other ships nearby that get hit by enemy weaponry.
FSSTs include validation of almost everything including the hardiness of onboard computer
systems to nuclear reactor elements.
American supercarriers are the face of the U.S Navy and have allowed powered projection
far away from the homeland.
The U.S is the only nation to operate so many supercarriers since they are very costly to
build and operate.
Due to technical and economic constraints, there are currently only a few countries with
aircraft carriers let alone having so many of these nuclear-powered mammoth supercarriers.
Rivals know they can't match American supercarriers in quality and quantity, hence they are trying
to develop asymmetric weapons to counter them.
This includes weapons specifically designed to take out American supercarriers like the
Chinese DF-21d Anti Ship Ballistic Missile touted as 'carrier killer'.
In this situation, it is paramount the Ford-class supercarriers are as robust as possible
FSSTs can unearth vulnerabilities that need to be reinforced in USS Gerald R. Ford.
This will also be equally useful for other vessels of this class, four of which are planned
and three of which are under assembly currently.