Questioning super carrier 'invulnerability'

摘要

The modern super carrier represents the apotheosis of modern naval warfare. However, that pinnacle is only achieved through excessive complexity, disproportionate cost, an imprudent concentration of risk and the perversion of force structure. The bureaucratic power and culture of the carrier navy is such that the survivability of the platform - both in naval wars and budgetary wars - has become paramount. In another time and context it might have been appropriate to muse whether the "medium is the message", but in protecting our nation's security the platform cannot become the mission.