At a length of 7800 meters, it is almost as long as the smaller Super Star Destroyer classes, and probably more massive. It has a draft of 250 meters, which would make most waters on the continental shelf inaccessible without dredging.
At a length of 7800 meters, it is almost as long as the smaller Super Star Destroyer classes, and probably more massive. It has a draft of 250 meters, which would make most waters on the continental shelf inaccessible without dredging.
Yeah, it would be 250 meters if it was shaped exactly the same as the original Zuikaku, but I thought I had heard that the school ships had a flattish underside which would supposedly reduce the draft required, since the volume of hull that would be beneath the waterline would be larger. That would probably half that draft size, since most carriers seem to have a sharp keel, which would drop it down to around 125 meters. That would still greater than the average continental shelf depth of 100m, but perhaps they use some GuP tech like carbon, or perhaps fill most of that massive hull with a lightweight gas like hydrogen to provide additional buoyancy.
Yeah, it would be 250 meters if it was shaped exactly the same as the original Zuikaku, but I thought I had heard that the school ships had a flattish underside which would supposedly reduce the draft required, since the volume of hull that would be beneath the waterline would be larger. That would probably half that draft size, since most carriers seem to have a sharp keel, which would drop it down to around 125 meters. That would still greater than the average continental shelf depth of 100m, but perhaps they use some GuP tech like carbon, or perhaps fill most of that massive hull with a lightweight gas like hydrogen to provide additional buoyancy.
I can't speak for WWII ships as much, but with modern naval ships, when you see them in drydock, the bottom is pretty flat in the middle, and they are more pointy towards the ends (as in the bottom of the hull cross section, although it is usually still rounded off at the bow end). The only part where you can really see the keel protruding is in the back about where the prop shafts come out.