Other than the fact it is supposed to fly, the carrier has a fairly standard configuration: the command island is located on the right side of the deck 2/3rds toward the stern; the landing strip is angled to allow aircraft to overshoot if they approach at a too steep angle or too fast; the takeoff deck takes the front half.
In the rear, you get a large elevator, which is used to lug aircraft up and down from and into the underdeck hangar.
The carrier is fairly large, approx. 300 meters, with wings spanning some 230 meters. The angled deck is about 200 meters long, while the unassisted takeoff deck is about 150 meters long. The reason there are no catapults is fairly simple; they are unnecessary. When you launch aircraft at 5,000 meters above ground, they are bound to gain speed eventually.
The front canards and the twin tails play a crucial role of reducing buffeting and air vortices, which might impede the air operations on the deck at high speed and altitude. Furthermore, the fore pair of engine nacelles is a little higher than the main quartet, again to prevent buildup of air pressure at the deck.
You must admit the carrier looks quite nice. It looks sleek and robust and might actually work as a real-life design, if anyone were mental enough to place some 50,000 tons of weapons into the air and let it soar. Notice the weapon turrets, we'll talk about those soon.
Well, that's imposing. You can appreciate the heavy built, designed to withstand the enormous forces. Notice the bulky hull and the thick wing cross-section, part in order to support the massive engines, part to carry enough fuel for said engines.
Engines
Getting the carrier into the air is not a simple thing; which is why it has a total of ten mammoth jets creating tremendous lift. I'm not sure how much thrust is required to lift a 50,000-ton machine into the air, but it's definitely a lot.
Most of the hull volume is taken by jet fuel, required to power the engines. Fully loaded, the carrier can remain airborne for 48 hours before it has to land and refuel. Totally made up, but who cares?
However, like any huge vessel, the flying aircraft carrier is also equipped with small maneuvering engines, akin to water jets used on big ships for mooring and harbor navigation. These include jets units fore and aft, allowing a hovering carrier to pivot, much like a helicopter.
Weapons
Since my carrier is supposed to provide air cover and mobility, the offensive weapons systems are mostly positioned on the bottom side of the hull. That does not mean you find an odd gun on the top deck, though. Furthermore, the defensive weapons are positioned all around, in the form of R2D2 Phalanx-like CIWS anti-missile mounts. Compared to a conventional carrier, my vessel faces an additional challenge of fending against surface-to-air missiles. Being large and rather slow and non-maneuverable compared to classic aircraft, even bombers, the flying aircraft carrier is an easy prey for ground defense forces. However, unlike most aircraft, it can afford tons of armor and ECM equipment and self-defense weapons.
The most important and notable weapon is the powerful twin 203mm long-range gun, paired with a smaller, dual-purpose 127mm automatic gun. Both weapons traverse full 360 degrees, so they can engage any which target regardless of the flight direction.
An additional twin gun is mounted in the prow. The carrier also loads sixteen cruise missiles in forward launchers. Again, the added benefit of high-speed, high-altitude capability allows the carrier to fire missiles much further than ground or marine systems can do, as the launched payload does not have to waste much energy in gaining the trajectory.
More weapons are mounted on the rear deck and the island, including additional twin 76mm automatic guns and Harpoon anti-shipping missiles.
Some long zoom shots
With details slightly obscured, realism takes over.
With shadows
Some shadows to make things even more realistic. Looks dandy, ain't it?
With aircraft
To spice things up, I added several instances of my brown-and-yellow Su-35-like
model, creating a lively scene, with a plane taking off and banking away, another landing, and some half a dozen units parked on the deck. First, here's the landing approach:
Some intense Top Gun screenshots:
