he United States has been the world's foremost master of carrier warfare since World War II. While other countries operate their own flat tops—most notably, China, who has ramped up carrier production at a break-neck pace in the last decade or so—none have matched the size and scale of the U.S. Navy. Each of its 11 world-class aircraft carriers is a seagoing city capable of projecting military power across the globe, with each ship operating approximately 70+ aircraft, measuring 1,100 feet long, and housing 4,500–5,000 sailors and Marines. If every carrier went to sea at once, just those 11 carriers would account for approximately 55,000 personnel at sea.
However, these impressive numbers are a double-edged sword. If even a single carrier were sunk, it would take a tremendous bite out of the Navy's combat capabilities and inflict a staggering loss of life; if one Ford- or Nimitz-class carrier were sunk with all hands, it would exceed U.S. deaths in the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq in a single day. And as the Chinese military grows, the threat to carriers in a U.S.-China war is becoming more acute. In 2023, a wargame simulation run by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank affiliated with Georgetown University, predicted the U.S. would prevail in a conflict over Taiwan—but at a loss of two aircraft carriers.
So, what exactly are the major threats to America's hulking aircraft carriers, how does the Navy plan to defend them, and is there any alternative to the fleet, which the service calls its "4.5 acres of sovereign American territory" at sea? |
he United States has been the world's foremost master of carrier warfare since World War II. While other countries operate their own flat tops—most notably, China, who has ramped up carrier production at a break-neck pace in the last decade or so—none have matched the size and scale of the U.S. Navy. Each of its 11 world-class aircraft carriers is a seagoing city capable of projecting military power across the globe, with each ship operating approximately 70+ aircraft, measuring 1,100 feet long, and housing 4,500–5,000 sailors and Marines. If every carrier went to sea at once, just those 11 carriers would account for approximately 55,000 personnel at sea.
However, these impressive numbers are a double-edged sword. If even a single carrier were sunk, it would take a tremendous bite out of the Navy's combat capabilities and inflict a staggering loss of life; if one Ford- or Nimitz-class carrier were sunk with all hands, it would exceed U.S. deaths in the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq in a single day. And as the Chinese military grows, the threat to carriers in a U.S.-China war is becoming more acute. In 2023, a wargame simulation run by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank affiliated with Georgetown University, predicted the U.S. would prevail in a conflict over Taiwan—but at a loss of two aircraft carriers.
So, what exactly are the major threats to America's hulking aircraft carriers, how does the Navy plan to defend them, and is there any alternative to the fleet, which the service calls its "4.5 acres of sovereign American territory" at sea? |
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