posted on Oct, 17 2008 @ 02:54 AM
A stealthy aircraft carrier, eh? Sounds good on paper, doesn't it?
A couple of questions spring to mind, quite apart from the issue of noise reduction from nuclear and deisel powerplants.
Wake..............As I understand it, when a ship moves through water, tiny micro-organisms luminesce in its wake. This liminescence can be seen by
reconnaissance aircraft and satellites;
Aircraft............Pre-supoposing that said aircraft carrier will operate with stealthy aircraft, there is the issue of aircraft launch. Even modern
carriers use steam catapults to launch aircraft into the wind. These produce a tremendous amount of heat and noise, as do the launching aircraft.
Heat...............Even a stealthy a/c carrier will radiate enormous amounts of heat. Some may be deflected underwater or perhaps cooled within the
ship in some way; exhaust fumes and gases may even be scrubbed clean by recycling eqpt within the hull and technology exists today where heat can be
exchanged for power;
Each of the issues I have raised above, can cause a ship to be detected.
The ship will be able to reduce noise and heat signatures to a minimum; it will probably be able to reduce its radar and radio signature to almost
'zero' and I think it would be possible to eradicate the launch signature of aircraft.
But, for all its modern technology, a stealthy ship cannot hide the bow or stern wake or the micro-organisms that luminesce in the wake.
Always remember that thermal reconnaissance can be used [as a back-up]to detect any stealthy aircraft, tank or ship.
The magic in detecting stealth objects, is in finding the correct radar frequency and directing enough energy at a suspect object,
before subjecting the object to thermal examination.