so in your considered opinion are aircraft carriers now just expensive targets or still viable?
Depends on who is using them and against whom.
USA was giving us a giant cruiser size ship, very cheap. We could've put our own choice of weapons on it and made it awesome. But we declined the offer. Because that would've been our largest boat and if something happened to it during war, the whole navy would be demoralized.
So according to our navy, big boats.. specially carriers, are expensive targets.
In all our wars with India, they hide their carrier in Bombay harbor so we can't use our subs to torpedo it.
So in the view of the Indian navy also, a carrier is an expensive target.
I don't even know what stupidity they are suffering from, sailing carriers when they and their enemy (us) share a long land border.
On the other hand, US Navy and Chinese Navy are obsessed with carriers. These are large navies with lots of money and they sail "carrier flotillas". Like the Americans have like 2 attack submarines, a cruiser or two, etc with their carrier. That is a lethal combination.
The Chinese carriers... at least the ones before this one... are next to useless when compared to American super-carriers. However, they have Renhai Class cruisers and Type 52 destroyers escorting those carriers. That is also a lethal combination.
Consider a scenario where USA needs to teach Iran a lesson. And nobody gives you a base to operate from.
Well, two carrier groups can finish Iran with plenty of firepower left over. So, they give you many options. And the side with more options is the one that wins.
news.usni.org
