Salient text: "Melbourne was paid off from RAN service in 1982. A proposal to convert her for use as a floating casino failed, and a 1984 sale was cancelled, before she was sold for scrap in 1985 and towed to China for breaking. The scrapping was delayed so Melbourne could be studied by the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) as part of a secret project to develop a Chinese aircraft carrier and used to train PLAN aviators in carrier flight operations."
Fucking also this bit: "Melbourne was the largest warship any of the Chinese experts had seen, and they were surprised by the amount of equipment which was still in place. The PLAN subsequently arranged for the ship's flight deck and all the equipment associated with flying operations to be removed so that they could be studied in depth. Reports have circulated that either a replica of the flight deck, or the deck itself, was used for clandestine training of PLANAF pilots in carrier flight operations. It has also been claimed that the Royal Australian Navy received and "politely rejected" a request from the PLAN for blueprints of the ship's steam catapult. The carrier was not dismantled for many years; according to some rumours she was not completely broken up until 2002. A 2012 article in Jane's Navy International stated that the large quantity of equipment recovered from Melbourne "undoubtedly helped" Admiral Liu Huaqing secure the Chinese Government's support for his proposal to initiate an aircraft carrier development programme.
We did not help China get its first aircraft carrier. China's first aircraft carrier is the Liaoning, which they bought from Russia. Their second was built based on the first, not on the Melbourne.
True, but my point still stands: buying a decommissioned WW2 carrier isn't what helped China get its first aircraft carrier. They didn't fast track 40 years of carrier development to get from the Melbourne to the modern age; they just bought a 1980s-era Soviet carrier.
1980s China, in a word, was a wasteland. Especially compared to the China we have today.
While it's true that huge parts of the country were basically medieval backwaters (there are still parts like that today, even) even in 1982, China was already manufacturing huge quantities of goods for for foreign companies and economies.
To think that they (China) would even want to build an aircraft carrier was like saying that Nigeria would want to build an aircraft carrier today.
The biggest difference, really, is that Nigeria isn't a communist country with a government that openly talks about how much they can't wait to crush you.
Why wouldn’t you scrap it yourself? It’s sensitive military technology. Even if you thought China was a backwater that would never use it, they could easily sell it to someone who would.
Salient text: "Melbourne was paid off from RAN service in 1982. A proposal to convert her for use as a floating casino failed, and a 1984 sale was cancelled, before she was sold for scrap in 1985 and towed to China for breaking. The scrapping was delayed so Melbourne could be studied by the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) as part of a secret project to develop a Chinese aircraft carrier and used to train PLAN aviators in carrier flight operations."
Fucking also this bit: "Melbourne was the largest warship any of the Chinese experts had seen, and they were surprised by the amount of equipment which was still in place. The PLAN subsequently arranged for the ship's flight deck and all the equipment associated with flying operations to be removed so that they could be studied in depth. Reports have circulated that either a replica of the flight deck, or the deck itself, was used for clandestine training of PLANAF pilots in carrier flight operations. It has also been claimed that the Royal Australian Navy received and "politely rejected" a request from the PLAN for blueprints of the ship's steam catapult. The carrier was not dismantled for many years; according to some rumours she was not completely broken up until 2002. A 2012 article in Jane's Navy International stated that the large quantity of equipment recovered from Melbourne "undoubtedly helped" Admiral Liu Huaqing secure the Chinese Government's support for his proposal to initiate an aircraft carrier development programme.
That's...almost as bad as leaving a bunch of high tech weapons and gadgets in stockpiles behind as you flee China's new ally.
fuck we're dopey cunts
You're also living in an authoritarian country run by fascist busybody broads.
Sounds like you lot drive like the chinese, too, based on that collision record.
I mean, we (the United States) gave them nuclear and satellite technology in the 90s, so we're not exactly in a state to cast stones.
We did not help China get its first aircraft carrier. China's first aircraft carrier is the Liaoning, which they bought from Russia. Their second was built based on the first, not on the Melbourne.
They bought it from Ukraine.
True, but my point still stands: buying a decommissioned WW2 carrier isn't what helped China get its first aircraft carrier. They didn't fast track 40 years of carrier development to get from the Melbourne to the modern age; they just bought a 1980s-era Soviet carrier.
While it's true that huge parts of the country were basically medieval backwaters (there are still parts like that today, even) even in 1982, China was already manufacturing huge quantities of goods for for foreign companies and economies.
The biggest difference, really, is that Nigeria isn't a communist country with a government that openly talks about how much they can't wait to crush you.
=P Yeah, but knowing china, they'll be mostly cheap plastic knockoffs full of lead and toxic waste.
Why wouldn’t you scrap it yourself? It’s sensitive military technology. Even if you thought China was a backwater that would never use it, they could easily sell it to someone who would.
That is true. You’re getting downvotes from people who never lived in the 80s and were likely not born then either. Historical context is important.