The U.S. Navy’s Big Mistake: Building Tons of Supercarriers
&gt; Soviet Adm. Sergei Gorchakov reportedly held the view that the U.S. had made a strategic miscalculation by relying on large and increasingly vulnerable aircraft carriers ... In a 1982 congressional hearing, legislators asked him how long American carriers would survive in an actual war. Rickover’s response? “Forty-eight hours,” he said.<p>True. But these carriers are just large jobs programs which also let us bomb poor countries here and there. And of course they look cool as hell.<p>If anyone attacks our carriers in large numbers  they&#x27;ll also be the target of our nuclear missiles. So in a way our conventional weapons have to just look cool on paper and be usable against 3rd world countries (that is why A-10 is still in use even though Russian tanks have long stopped being vulnerable to them. But groups of farmers with AK-47s are still blown to bits easily).<p>If Chinese or Russians launch their ballistic anti-ship missiles at these carriers, soon they&#x27;ll be seen ballistic missiles flying at their mainland, coming from some place in Nebraska probably.