We had an exercise with a carrier group. We had a 3-D box of operation which didn't allow us to go deep or run around. They knew we were there and were active from the ships and sonar bouys. We sneaked in and fired a flare at the carrier, went under it and "disappeard" The exercise was to last for several hours but our part was over in minutes. We just sat outside the carrier group and waited for the "official" time to end.
We were in the PR Op area training with CVN-xx ...
Got close enough to hear the catapult launching each A/C as they looked for us. (Torpedo range is past-horizon/)
Only time they found us was when the CO stayed on the radio with scope and BRA-34 raised talking to the aircraft and "steering" left and right until he was overhead.
I was under the impression (wrong I guess) that carrier groups were pretty well protected. In a conflict, would our carriers be easily sunk by chinese or russian subs?