Abstract (1st paragraph of article)
An announcement in 2013 by then-Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel that the Navy might reduce its aircraft carrier fleet from eleven to eight was an indication not only of harsh budget realities but also of changed operational circumstances at sea.1 In World War II, the aircraft carrier displaced the big-gun battleship as the capital ship. The United States subsequently used its fleet of aircraft carriers to exercise the command of the sea that it had won in the war to secure the peace. It stationed them around the periphery of Eurasia, initially to support a grand strategy of containing the Soviet Union and then, after the Soviet collapse, to maintain general strategic stability. This use of aircraft carriers has lasted almost seventy years, a period in which naval technology has evolved significantly, and much of that new technology could pose a credible threat to the aircraft carrier.
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