Summary: For over 70 years, aircraft carriers have been the dominant force at sea. The U.S. Navy operates the largest fleet with 11 supercarriers. However, these vessels face growing threats from hypersonic missiles, torpedoes, drone swarms, suicide boats, and special operations forces.
-Hypersonic missiles, which can travel at extreme speeds, pose a significant danger as current defenses may not intercept them. Torpedoes have a history of sinking carriers, and advanced anti-submarine measures are essential. Drone swarms and suicide boats, though less powerful, could overwhelm defenses if deployed en masse.
-Lastly, special forces using stealth tactics could potentially sabotage carriers, as seen in past conflicts.
For more than 70 years, aircraft carriers have been the kings of the sea. The U.S. Navy sails the largest carrier fleet in the world, with 11 supercarriers and several smaller warships that can double down as light carriers if needed.
The largest of these steel behemoths can carry as many as 100 combat aircraft and thousands of sailors. The simple presence of an aircraft carrier in a hot spot is often enough to tilt the balance toward U.S. interests.
However, aircraft carriers remain vulnerable to enemy fire. Near-peer adversaries have improved their technology and their arsenals, and aircraft carriers have to account for a growing number of threats.
Here is a brief breakdown of five ways an aircraft carrier could be sunk in the event of a war.
Hypersonic missiles are the most pressing threat to aircraft carriers today. Although the technology around hypersonic munitions is still developing, these weapons can achieve extreme speeds, many times the speed of sound, leaving an aircraft carrier vulnerable. It is uncertain whether current air defenses can intercept hypersonic munitions. As such, the hypersonics threat could prevent U.S. aircraft carriers from operating effectively in a conflict with China in the Indo-Pacific.
Torpedoes are another tool to sink an aircraft carrier. A tried and tested option, they have sunk several carriers in the past. A robust anti-submarine-warfare umbrella around every carrier at sea is designed to prevent such a strike. But these umbrellas are not infallible. For example, during a training exercise in the early 2000s, a small Swedish submarine managed to evade the anti-submarine defenses of a U.S. aircraft carrier and land several “hits.”
As technology and tactics continue to advance, swarms of drones could be another threat to an aircraft carrier. Although they carry far less destructive power than hypersonic missiles or torpedoes, drones are cheap and can be mass-produced. However, an adversary would have to find a way to approach the carrier group and unleash hundreds of drones against a flattop to have a chance of success.
A similar threat to aircraft carriers could come from suicide boats. Like the drone threat, a mass attack by suicide boats could threaten a carrier strike battlegroup. But this option shares similar problems with the drone threat – an adversary would have to amass a large number of such boats and somehow bring them close to an aircraft carrier undetected.
In the event of a conflict, a carrier would be vulnerable at all times. Even special operations forces could try to sink an aircraft carrier through stealth and sabotage. Although unconventional, this method has succeeded in the past.
During World War Two, the Royal Navy severely damaged the German battleship Tirpitz with midget submarines. The Italian Navy also had remarkable success with frogmen using human torpedoes to attack the British fleet moored in Alexandria, Egypt. Just a handful of Italian commandos disabled two British battleships, and damaged one destroyer and a tanker.
Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from the Johns Hopkins University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
