Which must be while China, Turkey and Japan are all busy working on aircraft ‘carriers’.
Heck, even this cute toy is an aircraft carrier, it just carries small, unmanned planes.
CVs and CVNs have been pretty much targets since SSNs were on the scene. The only reason we get away with it is that no-one is strong enough (or wants to) contest us. Yet. In the current environment, they’re an effective power projection platform. In the future environment, they will be the same, except with the added ‘benefit’ of being like having an armored division stationed just north of Seoul.
Is it there to stop the bad guys? Not so much. It’s there to do what it can, and if someone is desperate enough to destroy it, it’s there to let us know when it’s time to launch the bad stuff.
Much like the battleships in Pearl Harbor (sigh).
Don’t forget the Persian Gulf. If Iran is so desperate to try to close the narrow shallow gulf, can the big blue water carriers of the US Navy operate safely within the Gulf? Remember the Iranians have fortified the shores with state of the art Chinese made shore to ship missiles. They have less than a thirty second flight to target. The US Navy will go and fight wherever ordered. Yet IMHO it is possible that if US capital ships are there in force, the Navy faces a debacle worse than Pearl Harbor in less than 15 minutes. Of course Iran would be obliterated but it would be little comfort to the families of the sailors and the cost would be huge. May it never occur.
“Much like the battleships in Pearl Harbor (sigh).”
An apt comparison. Trump’s move into space is what is truly of interest.