A former CIA Director Says Technology May Make Them "Superfluous"
A recent article in Proceedings took the position that the Navy should retain 12 large-deck aircraft carriers indefinitely. The article was exactly wrong because it did not consider probable changes in the political need for carriers or changes in technology that will likely impact their utility. To take these factors into account, we need to go back to when carriers became the centerpiece of U.S. naval strategy. On 7 December 1941 the Navy still considered the battleship to be that centerpiece. The Japanese attack that morning hit primarily the battleships moored in Pearl Harbor. The Pacific Fleet's carriers were out at sea. fortunately. Unscathed, they moved into ascendancy and became the backbone of our Navy.
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