So these huge behemoths must rely on invisibility for protection. This doesn't sound good.
Besides, I suspect there is a way to detect them, or will be in the future. For example, a swarm of toy-sized unmanned aircraft scouring the area.
There's only one nation that can do over-the-horizon targeting on a consistent basis.
Well, even an inconsistent basis may do it. The enemy just needs to get lucky once or twice out of dozens of tries. And again, the technologies available to everyone keep improving and there is nothing we can do about it.
They rely on the curvature of the Earth, just as ships have done since the time of Carthage. The sea is frickin' huge, and even the biggest damn ship in the world is hard to detect against that big a search area. It's far more likely that the carrier will find the ship stalking it than the stalker will find the carrier--the carrier has far more sensor assets available to it.
Besides, I suspect there is a way to detect them, or will be in the future. For example, a swarm of toy-sized unmanned aircraft scouring the area.
Toy-sized aircraft are not going to carry worthwhile sensor payloads to long ranges.
Well, even an inconsistent basis may do it. The enemy just needs to get lucky once or twice out of dozens of tries.
And in executing dozens of tries, he loses his forces--well, there's one nation that can afford the price tag of a big navy, and one that keeps taking losses.
Care to guess which nation that is?
And again, the technologies available to everyone keep improving and there is nothing we can do about it.
Ah, but those technologies are available to us, and the search problem ain't going to go away quickly.