That was something that always concerned me but the Navy guys told me it was no problem. Water and fuel (oil) don’t mix and, before refilling they did a quick purge and rinse. In the open ocean, the seawater is pretty clean.
This makes me think of something else. What type of fuel do most of the freighters today use. Like the great big oil tankers or just the car carriers.
Is it
??
The only other carrier I can think of is the Charles de Gaulle, France’s sole carrier, which is nuclear and IIRC is stationed in the Med.
I have no idea at all about Russian carriers.
Does any other country use aircraft carriers? Australia did have one (HMAS Melbourne?) but retired it about 20 years ago. Australia was going to buy the Ark Royal to replace it, but the British changed their minds when the Ark Royal proved its use in the Falklands War.
World Aircraft Carriers List: Carriers Summary (As of November 26, 2001)
Ship Propulsion: From Oars to Marine Engines
Ship’s propulsion layout: More than one way to get the job done
According to these sites, it appears that direct drive diesels currently outnumber diesel electric systems. Given that the advantages of diesel-electric has been known for decades–and that it has an analogous application in railroads–I am surprised at that statment, but I have no reason to doubt the claims of the two companies that actually manufacture the systems.
In any event, diesel fuel would be the most common fuel, regardless of the relative numbers of diesel vs diesel-electric. Steam turbines are a dying breed and reciprocating and universal drive steam engines are archaic, regardless of their fuel source.
And even on that Japan was a bit lax about it.
It was common for people* to say that there were no “nuclear weapons” on a ship. Technically true, because there were only “nuclear weapon components” that had to be assembled to create an actual “weapon”. (The assembling took about 30-90 seconds to complete.) Many (most?) nuclear weapons were never stored as a fully functional weapon.
And the Japanese government knew about this ‘loophole’, of course, but just ignored it rather than annoy a major ally and trading partner.
This is based on info from my brother, who served on a US carrier about 15 years ago. But I doubt if much has changed in this regard since then.
*People said this, not the US Navy. All US armed forces refuse to state officially whether any particular ship, plane, etc. does or does not have a nuclear weapon on board.
There’s an old British/Australian aircraft carrier for sale on eBay.
Not quite. If the fuel source is nuclear, what else can you use?
Not quite. If the fuel source is nuclear, what else can you use?
Not quite. If the fuel source is nuclear, what else can you use?
Jeez. :smack:
In addition to tomndebb’s list below, many countries are working on aircraft carrier projects. The three Royal Navy Invincible-class ships are to be replaced by two 55,000-tonne carriers (named in November 2003 as HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales). According to sources, “[t]he carrier’s propulsion system will be Integrated Full Electric Propulsion (IFEP) based on four gas turbines.”