IMO, Carrier battle groups will be easy targets in any major war. Given today’s surveillance tech, there will be no place for the carriers to hide from enemy ballistic missiles, high speed surface skimming missiles, & stealthy submarines. One hit from a nuclear tipped missile or torpedo will decimate a carrier battle group. A growing number of not so friendly countries possess this capability.
A carrier battle group, in order to get its planes within range of an enemy country, must move deeply into range of enemy land based missiles & war planes. The enemy will know far in advance of any such incursion, having spotted & tracked the group, probably since it left port. Given the relative slow movement of the group, the enemy will have much time & opportunity to engage it long before it reaches its objective.
Ships are limited in the armaments they carry. Ships having 100 anti-ballistic missiles are great until 200 ballistic missiles are fired at them. Land based war systems have no such limitations of space & carrying capacity, & as with ICBMs, range is not a factor.
In any major war, say between the US & China or Russia, a carrier battle group will be virtually useless against the rain of missiles coming at it. Even if it manages to defend itself, its defenses would be depleated long before it can engage the enemy offensively.
Neither enemy would hesitate to nuke such a group, if for no other reason than to give us a devastating morale blow, as well as a huge economic blow. Replacing a trillion dollar battle group is not doable very often without bankrupting the nation, nor is it something that can be done quickly & easily during a major war.
For a carrier to contribute in the next major war, the enemy’s surveillance capability will have to be crippled along with much of its missile arsenal. Until then, the carrier will have to depend on land based defense, such as it is (pathetic), in the US, or stay as far away from the enemy missiles/submarines as possible.
What we are left with are extremely expensive carrier battle groups that are only effective against relatively weak opponents - Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan. For more powerful enemies they are irresistible, relatively easy targets.
If I controlled the money I’d spend it on missile technology & space warfare - the next war, & stop trying to prepare to fight WWII again.
Thank God you DON’T control the money because you are just plan ignorant. Our enemies think of way to attack our fleet and idiots like you think of ways to not build our fleet in the first place.
The Exocet was devastating in the Falklands
I’m going deep
One of our old diesel boats, Santa Fe ate it there, but she got her licks in if I recall correctly