20 February 2015

The New Strategic Realities of U.S. Carrier Operations

Jeff Moore, “Essay: The New Strategic Realities of U.S. Carrier Operations,” U.S. Naval Institute News, 17 February 2015.

Just four days ahead of the 73rd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy announced its intention to award Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc (HII). approximately $4 billion to construct the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) super carrier, the second vessel of the new Gerald R. Ford-class of carriers. The cost has raised eyebrows, as the Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) experienced cost overruns of 22 percent.

Additionally, debate is raging over the utility of the aircraft carrier and whether it’s even relevant anymore in the face of China’s new, lethal anti-ship missiles. It’s a debate worth having, but it needs to be rooted in realistic naval principles and war precedents, not politics and hype. …

So how is today’s use of the carrier different from that of yesteryear’s? …

Advances in Chinese anti-ship missiles have been well covered as of late by a host of experts. (Modern Chinese torpedoes and other, like naval weaponry, are critical issues, too, but that’s for another article.) The DOD’s annual “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2014” puts the threat in plain terms, as do military writers Zachary Keck via The Diplomat, and Robert Haddick via War on the Rocks. Military scholars Dennis M. Gormley, Andrew S. Erickson, and Jingdong Yuan provide additional technical data on these threats in Joint Forces Quarterly, and Robert Farley follows suit in The National Interest. …

… one thing is for sure: the Chinese won’t wait for America to catch its breath and get organized. It’s modernizing and professionalizing its navy at high speed, come hell or high water.

For full text of the article cited here, see Dennis M. Gormley, Andrew S. Erickson, and Jingdong Yuan, “A Potent Vector: Assessing Chinese Cruise Missile Developments,” Joint Force Quarterly 75.4 (30 September 2014): 98-105.