[BroJoeK]

from the article: "Though it’s a common refrain to bemoan waste and fraud inside the DoD budget, the simple reality is that a fifty-plus-year-old aircraft carrier hull like the USS Nimitz cannot be maintained forever.
The carrier, just like every other military platform, requires somewhat regular replacement due to mechanical wear and tear over time.
The U.S. military now has a massive backlog of such aging platforms, and there is simply not enough money to replace them. "

Where there's a will, there's a way.
The issue is, do we still have the will?

For as long as I can remember, some people have claimed that US aircraft carriers are now made obsolete by whatever the newest technology of the day has been.
And yet, since WWII, US carriers have visibly dominated the oceans like nothing else, always matching the latest threats with even better technology.
Still, they remain hugely expensive to build, operate and maintain.

[cgbg]

Carriers are great until we get in a real shooting war with a major power.

At that moment they will be ridiculously easy targets to hit and annihilate.

“No plan survives first contact with the enemy.”