Carrier vulnerability article from 13 years ago...
Killing a pair of US Carriers is a more tactically useful & probable reason for the recent Hamas debacle than re-demonstrating an already well known political point. The human tragedy in Israel is the bait. The folks setting this up don't care a whit about the collateral human cost.
These boats were never intended to fight in shallow, constricted spaces. Losing 2/11ths of your Carrier force in one day just can't be allowed to happen. Our Navy had best be ready to go "full-on scorched earth" on any threats to these boats. A counter-attack on "Death to America" Iran resulting from a large-scale Iran-funded, Hamas perpetrated, successful attack on our Carrier groups will push us into WWIII overnight. The moment the hammer drops on their close associate Iran, China & Russia will immediately begin executing their own game plans. This next 3-front war won't be pretty, but it might be quick. Fortress at Sea? The Carrier Invulnerability MythAmerica's nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, especially in today's irregular, asymmetric warfare climate, could be little more than slow-moving targets.
By Commander John Patch, U.S. Navy (Retired); January 2010
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2010/january/fortress-sea-carrier-invulnerability-mythThe recently renewed debate over aircraft carrier requirements has focused mainly on the factors of cost and utility. These issues notwithstanding, analysts often overlook or understate the carriers' inherent vulnerabilities. Regardless of the number of carriers national leadership decides to maintain, because they remain the U.S. Navy's preeminent capital ship and a symbol of American global power and prestige, they are a potential key target for both unconventional and conventional adversaries. Carrier proponents, however, universally seem to accept on faith alone the premise that a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVN) is essentially invulnerable.
Yet an intelligent adversary could potentially exploit carrier weaknesses.
The sudden, unexpected loss of a CVN, especially by unanticipated asymmetric means, would shock both the military establishment and the American psyche-perhaps being a military equivalent to the Twin Towers' collapse on 9/11. The truth is, a deployed aircraft carrier is more vulnerable to mission kill than is commonly believed, and the Department of Defense should consider efforts to prevent or mitigate such an exigency.
Presumed Impregnable
The U.S. view of carrier invulnerability is a perilous assumption. If 9/11 taught Washington anything, it clearly demonstrated that fortress America was vulnerable in ways its citizens and defenders never imagined. Terrorists selected targets with maximum psychological impact, employing a relatively sophisticated asymmetric method, seemingly incorporating many of the basic principles of war and operational art: simplicity, synergy, simultaneity and depth, surprise, tempo and timing, security, etc.
Next-Generation Weapons Are Here Now
Emerging technologies and new classes of advanced conventional weapons are also making the carriers' ostensible invulnerability more suspect. Most experts see recent advances in foreign antiship cruise missiles (ASCM), offensive information operations capabilities, stealthy diesel and nuclear-powered submarines, deep water rising mines, and antiship ballistic missiles (ASBM) as direct threats to carrier strike groups proximate to the littorals (i.e., when supporting air operations inland). While contemporary conflicts demonstrate no such apparent threats to carriers, they also involve state adversaries without advanced conventional naval weapons.
Topic: ישראל כחזית השלישית (Read 12169 times)