Sinking Aircraft Carriers

How would you sink the Shi Lang? The question led to quite a few comments. My answer to this question is simple - we will sink an aircraft carrier the same way we have always sank aircraft carriers.

The United States Navy has a history of sinking aircraft carriers. The following history guides suggests how the United States Navy would attack and sink aircraft carriers.

Japanese Aircraft Carriers sunk in WWII:

• Akagi - Scuttled on 5th June 1942 after taking heavy damage from US bombers at Midway.
• Kaga - Sunk on 4th June 1942 after taking heavy damage from US bombers at Midway.
• Ryujo - Sunk at the battle of the east Solomon Seas by aircraft from the USS Saratoga and USS Enterprise on the 24th of August 1942.
• Soryu - Sunk on 4th June 1942 at Midway after US bombs caused fires which reached her fuel tanks.
• Hiryu - Scuttled on 5th June 1942 after taking heavy damage from US bombs at Midway.
• Shokaku - Survived Coral Sea and Santa Cruz battles but was torpedoed and sunk on 19th June 1944 by the sub USS Cavalla.
• Zuikaku - Sunk on 25th October 1944 by US bombers in the Leyte Gulf operations.
• Hiyo - Sunk on 20th June 1944 by torpedo from US aircraft in Philippine Sea.
• Chitose - Sunk on 25th October 1944 in Leyte Gulf actions.
• Chiyoda - Sunk on 25th October 1944 in Leyte Gulf actions.
• Unryu - Sunk on 19th December 1944 by the sub USS Redfish.
• Amagi - Sunk on 24th July 1945 by US bombers.
• Taiho - Sunk on 16th June 1944 after a torpedo from the sub USS Albacore.
• Shinano - Sunk on 29th November 1944 by the sub USS Archerfish.
• Taiyo - Sunk on 18th August 1944 by torpedoes from the sub USS Rasher.
• Unyo - Sunk on 16th September 1944 by torpedoes from the sub USS Barb.
• Chuyo - Sunk on 4th December 1943 by torpedoes from the sub USS Sailfish.

In WWII, 10 aircraft carriers were sunk by aircraft while 7 aircraft carriers were sunk by submarine. In other words, the most things have changed with technology, the less things are different in naval warfare. Navies still strike from long range through the air, and still strike at short range from underwater.

And just like in WWII, the surface fleet protects the high value assets from air and sub threats, conducts littoral operations near the shore in support of operations on land, and commits to combat with other ships when required.

So has anything changed? It is very much unclear. There has been tremendous investment towards the capability of ships to defend the fleet, but no one is sure how effective this capability would be in war. The defensive capability of the surface fleet actually reflects history in WWII. As Wayne Hughes highlights in his great book Fleet Tactics and Coastal Combat, towards the end of WWII the number of guns combined with more effective radar on surface ships became a remarkably lethal and effective combination against attacking aircraft, including Kamikaze attacks.

That raises the question regarding the extent to which fleet defenses must be rolled back to defeat an aircraft carrier. This question does not have an answer derived from combat, so we really do not know whether quantity or quality will be the decisive factor in defending an aircraft carrier. What we do know, however, is that for offense - quantity is generally preferred.