Category: Magazine

South Pacific: China's hospital ship on strategic mission

You can do good with a hospital ship - and use it in a targeted manner - as you see fit. And China likes to do good in the South Pacific to those countries that have turned their backs on Taiwan and lend a sympathetic ear to the dragon. But this dragon is no cuddly toy! The Daishan Dao (Peace Ark) organised a three-month goodwill tour of the Pacific islands in the summer, when it was winter in the southern half of the world, and returned to its home port of Zhoushan, south of Shanghai, in mid-September. The island or small states of Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and East Timor were the...

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When island states sink into the sea

Sea levels are continuing to rise worldwide. Some countries are particularly affected by the consequences. A little-noticed consequence of the global heatwaves this year is the further rise in sea levels with all its consequences for humanity. Even without further global warming, global sea levels will continue to rise. According to a recent study by the Geological Research Centre for Denmark and Greenland, for example, the continuous melting of the Greenland ice sheet will make the Arctic almost ice-free in summer as early as the 2030s to 2050s. The Arctic sea ice area there has been declining rapidly every year in recent decades, regardless of emission scenarios - and this has been the case since...

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Up the drive and hard on the rudder ...

High-ranking representatives from the navy and industry attended this year's anniversary event of the naval workshop in the northern German province. One thing became clear: procurement is a priority - at least in the near future. ... was the motto of the 25th Naval Workshop of the German Society for Defence Technology in Linstow. Even if this title seemed rather daring from the point of view of practical seamanship, it was a special event in many respects. Both the workshop itself and the 175th anniversary of the German Navy were reasons for good humour in advance. In particular, the record number of 625 visitors and the 60 exhibitors from the defence industry were clearly a reason to...

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China: First Type 054B guided missile frigate

Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding in Shanghai launched the first guided missile frigate of the Jiangkai III class (Type 054B) at the end of August. With a length of 147 metres and a displacement of around 6,000 tonnes, the all-electric successor to the Jiangkai II class (Type 054A) is definitely a new design that is expected to reduce energy consumption and increase combat power despite being 50 percent larger. In contrast to the Renhai destroyer (Type 055), a rotating phased array radar system can be seen on the integrated mast superstructure, which will make the frigate comparable to modern Western frigates and destroyers in terms of its air defence capabilities. The new 100-millimetre gun also makes it more effective than its predecessor in terms of air defence capability.

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Firing from all cylinders

Western navies want to defend their supremacy by developing new guns and missiles. New in the race is the railgun. In the first half of the 20th century, the most powerful naval unit was the battleship, a floating fortress of steel armed with guns of more than 300 millimetres calibre that could attack targets at a distance. However, despite its destructive potential, shooting at the time was characterised by more misses than hits. In a battle more than 80 years ago, a battle cruiser armed with 28-centimetre guns had to fire around 200 times to hit targets, despite its then state-of-the-art fire control system.

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