"Long Live the Aircraft Carrier" Topic

To assume an inability to secure sea control renders carriers obsolete is a gross misreading of maritime history and theory, and it neglects the functions of fleets short of total war.

Proceedings Magazine – link

+1 The carrier remains the most effective way to project military power. Versatile, highly visible, deadly. It makes a big impression. It is more vulnerable now, but subs are not visible and not as impressive to make a point.

Shades of the dreadnoughts.

Aircraft carriers are going to change with technology (specifically but not limited to UAVs), but they are not going anywhere, probably until civilization collapses.

Served on an Aircraft Carrier in the Navy. We had a CPO in my department explain to me, during fleet wargames with the Australians, that an "Aircraft Carrier is nothing more than a big expensive floating target. We will be lucky in a real war to get our aircraft up in the air." Not too long after that a missile attack took us out.

CVs are here to stay. It's a movable airbase where we don't need anyone's permission to launch our aircraft against anyone or any place we need to. We can reach out and touch our adversaries anywhere in the world. But they are a big expensive target.

True OC, they appear an easy target, especially in a total war. But there is still nothing like them for projecting force, or for leading strikes against troublesome aggressors in a limited conflict.