They can take a lot of damage.
The USS Forrestal had nine 500 pound bombs detonate on her deck, not to mention the missiles and planes. Some of those 500 lb bombs had their explosive force dramatically enhanced because they were old WWII era bombs, and the explosives had decomposed creating a more volatile and unpredictable explosive.
A large carrier like that can be sunk. Any ship can. But those ships are huge, have a lot of compartments, and (at least used to) have some tenacious damage control parties with well designed tools and techniques.
The USS Forrestal had nine 500 pound bombs detonate on her deck, not to mention the missiles and planes. Some of those 500 lb bombs had their explosive force dramatically enhanced because they were old WWII era bombs, and the explosives had decomposed creating a more volatile and unpredictable explosive.
A large carrier like that can be sunk. Any ship can. But those ships are huge, have a lot of compartments, and (at least used to) have some tenacious damage control parties with well designed tools and techniques.
The America was intentionally sank to gain technology and data for the Gerald R Ford. It took days of hits and even then she finally went down only after pre-positioned explosives had been purposely set at key places to end water tight integrity & deliberately make certain she sank. It would take an awful lot to any class of the super carriers. Enterprise burned as did Oriskany and Independence I think. None have sank since WW2.