Posted on 02/23/2016 3:07:13 PM PST by Kaslin
Cruise missle can take them out I think.
“When properly deployed’
I think they are still formidable ,as long as the ships commanders have freedom of engagement
Cruise missiles and submarines could eliminate most if not all on Day One.
I recall Nikita Khrushchev calling U S carriers sitting ducks and taxi cabs that the Soviet Navy would quickly sink in a conflict between the great powers. Interesting that both the Soviets and now the Chinese went on to build their own carriers. That said we should look at the lessons of WW-II to see carriers are vulnerable despite extensive protection from an accompanying task force. A single submarine from even nations like North Korea or Iran could sink a US carrier
Several years ago the Chinese allegedly deployed brilliant mines. They are autonomous and periodically float up from the bottom and power themselves to a new location. They are remotely activated and have the signatures of the US ships afloat when they were launched. In the event of war the mines would be activated and create an exclusion zone of much of the Pacific, effectively neutralizing the US Navy.
I read about this while working on a Navy project concerning mine neutralizing. It was not classified, but I am unable to find an open source for this information.
Below is a link to Wiki on aircraft carriers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_carriers_in_service
Across a wide range of operations there is no suitable alternative to a Carrier Strike Group. That’s why the Chinese are now building Carriers. In a general war with a peer competitor there will be major losses on both sides.
The US Navy is looking to increase the offensive punch of all surface ships for this reason. The concept called Distributed Lethality received significant funding in the FY17 budget.
Carriers will be around for a long time, while the technology to replace them exists it will be decades before these alternatives are practical replacements.
Anti ship ballistic missiles are the current weapons keeping Naval leadership awake at night ......still a powerpoint weapon.
Source is Center for a New American Security?
Seriously?
“Michèle Flournoy is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).
She served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from February 2009 to February 2012.
She was the principal adviser to the Secretary of Defense in the formulation of national security and defense policy, oversight of military plans and operations, and in National Security Council deliberations.
She led the development of DoD’s 2012 Strategic Guidance and represented the Department in dozens of foreign engagements, in the media and before Congress.
Prior to confirmation, Ms. Flournoy co-led President Obama’s transition team at DoD.”
Bwahahahahahaaha....just what I always look for in a source. Someone who has almost singlehandedly made our military what it is today.
Our admirals better be careful not to spend all their time preparing for the last war. Carriers will eventually fade as new technologies make them too vulnerable.
Shoot, I think we need a new generation of heavily armored battleships that can resist missile attacks and then lob heavy kinetic shells that will themselves be almost impervious to interception.
As to the aircraft carriers? If they were really obsolete then China and Russia wouldn’t be so worried about them.
Gerald Ford (CVN-78)-class vastly exceed those of the previous Nimitz-class carriers. In the short term, this may not mean much, although it will certainly make some tasks easier (including EMALS, the new electromagnetic launch system). In the longer term, this extra power generation capacity may make lasers an effective tool for air defense.
The U.S. Navy has devoted a great deal of attention to the prospect of making directed energy weapons a useful defense system. In theory, lasers could resolve many of the problems associated with ballistic and cruise missile defense, including the accuracy and limited number of interceptors. A carrier with sufficiently powerful laser defenses could curtail the threat of even large salvos of cruise and ballistic missiles, providing a carrier group with an extra degree of security and lethality in contested areas.
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/5-ways-us-aircraft-carriers-will-soon-be-more-lethal-13589
Just came back from visiting the Pensacola Air station Museum and our docent was a TAILHOOKER!! The museum was AWESOME...AWESOME!!!
I’ve often questioned the value of an aircraft carrier in an era when the U.S. has military bases all over the globe, and the major nuclear powers can send ICBMs anywhere in the world in a matter of minutes.
I think the Russians and Chinese would strike out satellites first making our weapons and gps obsolete
This person does not seem to understand that we lost many carriers in World War II.
They have never been invincible. They are not now.
But with a good strike group around them they are a VERY difficult nut to track.
In the end it comes down to whether a nation has the will to use them.
If they do, they can accomplish some amazing things...but they are also at risk.
If we have an administration that understand show to use Naval Power and understands the risks and rewards, the US Navy will remain virtually unbeatable for the foreseeable future.
That does not mean they will be untouchable...just very very hard to beat.
Most of what today passes for journalists do not know or understand naval history, particularly World war II, or understand naval warfare doctrine.
.......I would add to your comment, which I substantially agree with, two things:
1. Since the end of WWII, the carriers have never been significantly attacked by a nation state because the cost of doing so would be ruination of the attacking nation. China is weak internally, so is Russia, I don’t see either of them attacking a US Carrier as doing so would be akin to national suicide (after Obama is out of office and any of the top 3 pubs moves in).
2. These carrier battle groups keep the bad guys at bay all over the world allowing millions of citizens to go about their lives in relative peace and tranquility. I think that is their major contribution and relative worth.
Carriers will be obsolete when the concept of air superiority on the open ocean becomes obsolete, i.e. NEVER.
“I wasn’t taking the question of the Chinese artificial islands very seriously when it first started,”
This guy was playing golf, I guess, as was president ubama. He sat there and encouraged them to go right ahead and build this island that definitely wasn’t theirs. Hell, if an American company would have wanted to put a resort there, he would have sent in the Marines because of all the environmental damage to what were actually pretty neat coral islands.
We’re screwed.
Nuclear carriers are too expensive, go back to conventional. The air wing doesn’t care. Plus the concept of doing damage control on nuclear warship give me the willys.
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