Are U.S. Aircraft Carriers Too Big To Fail?

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) transits up the Elizabeth River as it passes the downtown Norfolk waterfront after completing a successful and on-time six-month Planned Incremental Availability at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, VA. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Tyler Folnsbee/Released)

The U.S. Military's Ultimate Fear: Are Aircraft Carriers Too Big To Fail? -- Henry Holst, National Interest

Various defense pundits, scholars, and journalists have spent a considerable amount of digital ink debating the various threats to America’s carrier fleet while avoiding a more central question. In the cliché phrase of our time: Are carriers too big to fail? Clausewitz tells us, “war is the continuation of politics by other means.” Is there any political situation of such gravity that losing a carrier would be deemed an acceptable risk? In other words, how expendable are carriers? The answer to this question has large implications for the tactical and strategic options available to U.S. policymakers.

Total security from all risk is impossible. The aircraft carrier is not invulnerable to attack. The new U.S. Ford-class aircraft carrier will be a floating home to over 4,000 sailors and comes in at the hefty price tag of around $12 billion dollars. In light of the development and proliferation of anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) weaponry, does this enormous investment of human resources narrow U.S. tactical and strategic options? What are the implications of the sinking of a U.S. carrier?

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My Comment: In a hypothetical major war against China .... my prediction is that U.S. carriers will stay far away from China's shores .... or they may actually stay in port. Everyone knows too well that the sinking of a U.S. carrier would be a terrible blow .... both to the country's morale and to the perception of the U.S. in the eyes of the rest of the world. Keeping them far away from the conflict zone and/or having them stay in U.S. waters will decrease the possibility of a successful attack against a carrier strike group .... but it will also raise other questions .... like why did we spend all of this money to have a carrier groups .... but we are too afraid to use them.