22 May/June 2022

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Military

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// B Y K Y L E M I Z O K A M I //

O

NE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, THE U.S.

Navy commissioned one of the most

unusual—and controversial—ships ever

to enter the f leet. The USS Jupiter, a vet-

eran coal transport, emerged from the

shipyards at Portsmouth, Virginia, and

was transformed into the new USS Lang-

ley, the Navy’s first true aircraft carrier.

Today, the carrier is still the centerpiece of the

battle fleet, and the service’s carriers still have

the same mission: to project air power from the

USS Gerald R. Ford

steams in the

Atlantic Ocean in

2019. The newest
      U.S. aircraft
      carrier cost a
      hefty $13 billion
      to develop.

sea. And while bigger and more capable than ever,

carriers are also more expensive and vulnerable

than ever.

New threats from Russia and China could spell

the end of carriers, or force them to innovate into a

new craft that will continue to dominate the mari-

time domain.

TODAY’S CARRIERS

The U.S. Navy operates a fleet of 11 aircraft carriers,

10 Nimitz-class carriers, and a new Ford-class car-

rier. All are nuclear powered and typically embark

a carrier air wing of dozens of aircraft, including

the likes of F/A/-18E/F Super Hornets, F-35C Joint

Strike Fighters, and Seahawk helicopters.

Ten are based in the United States, split between

the coasts. One carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan,

is homeported at Yokosuka, Japan. At least three

carriers are at sea at all times, with another three

returning from a deployment or preparing for one.

The remaining carriers are typically undergoing

lengthy overhaul and modernization processes that

leave them undeployable for two to four years.

And the U.S. isn’t alone in its want and need for

a solid carrier f leet. The United Kingdom recently

commissioned two new carriers, Queen Elizabeth

in 2017 and Prince of Wales in 2019, and Brazil is

experimenting with using drones from its carrier,

Atlantico. France, South Korea, and Russia have

all announced plans to build carriers in the near

future.

EVOLVING WITH THE TIMES

Aircraft carriers have survived as the dominant

weapon at sea for one reason: They’re almost com-

pletely unarmed. The ships are merely f loating

airports, and their real power—and relevance—

stems from the air wing. As aviation changes,

carriers have easily adapted to embark the latest

technology, from pistons to jet engines. They’ve

also added unguided bombs/torpedoes and the lat-

est laser- or GPS-guided weapons.

“The innate f lexibility of a big f lat deck in inf lu-

encing its surroundings is unmatched,” says Craig

Hooper, a naval analyst and CEO of Themistocles

Advisory Group, a national security advisory firm

based in Maryland. “Shifts in airborne capabilities

and the widespread adoption of unmanned plat-

forms may change the game a bit, but many of these

platforms will still need fuel, ammo, and mainte-

Do the U.S.

Navy’s Aircraft

Carriers Still

Rule the Seas?