Naval Story
Aircraft Carriers Large and Small: Navies deploy aviation ships for a variety of missions
By Edward H. Lundquist in Naval under Print Edition with no comments
The United States Navy has the biggest aircraft carriers and the largest fleet of flattops afloat. Since it recently commissioned its newest “supercarrier,” USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), the U.S. Navy has 11 aircraft carriers, as well as 11 large-deck, aviation-capable amphibious ships. But the United States is not alone in operating carriers. Other navies operate them, too, in different ways and for somewhat different purposes.
In the United States, the aircraft carrier is the centerpiece of maritime power. The Carrier Strike Group (CSG) – with a potent air wing of warplanes, a versatile cadre of surface combatants, and nuclear-powered attack submarines in “direct support” – is the ultimate concentration of naval warfighting capability. Still, as big as it may be, and as capable as its aircraft may be, a carrier still relies on surface combatants to contribute in the defense against air and missile attack and against submarines. Altogether, these Carrier Strike Groups continue to provide the capability to respond quickly and appropriately to global 
events.
“Aircraft carriers continue to be our nation’s on-call asset in times of need and enable the Navy to execute all six core capabilities of the Maritime Strategy – forward presence, deterrence, sea control, power projection, maritime security, and humanitarian assistance/disaster response,” states a U.S. Navy “Rhumb Lines” fact sheet on aircraft carriers.
Not every navy needs an aircraft carrier, and few nations can afford one.
“The employment of naval maritime reconnaissance and fighter aviation assets at sea in the 21st century is expensive but essential for oceanic operations, whether it be for sea denial, sea control, or mere ‘flag showing and power projection’ in peacetime,” said Commodore Ranjit Rai, a retired Indian navy flag officer.
“The larger ‘blue water’ navies like the French operate Rafale fighter planes from nuclear-powered aircraft carriers [such as] the Charles de Gaulle, and the Royal Navy has plans to operate U.S.-built Joint Strike Fighters from a futuristic carrier, but both navies are finding the costs of building and operating carriers is becoming unaffordable. Carriers eat into the submarine and surface fleet needs,” Rai said. “Aircraft carriers are big-ticket items essential for power projection and sea control, and only large ambitious nations with high growth rates – even if they are developing countries…
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July 30th, 2010
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