A battleship or even a large cruiser could very easily sink an aircraft carrier if she could close the range sufficiently to bring the carrier under fire. How such a ship can close the range from 200 to 20 miles in the face of a hostile air group and against a ship which is as fast or faster is something of a mystery.
The ships each require a set number of hits before they will sink: Carrier, five hits. Battleship, four hits. Destroyer, three hits.
The most significant threats to carriers are cruise missiles, wake-homing torpedoes, ballistic missiles and mines. But cruise missiles are unlikely to penetrate the battle group's integrated air defenses, and few potential adversaries are capable of employing submarines or torpedoes effectively.
While it is possible to sink an aircraft carrier, it would likely require a sustained and coordinated attack, and even then, the carrier might be able to stay afloat and continue operating for some time.
US aircraft carriers are generally considered to be better than battleships for a few key reasons: Flexibility: Aircr.
The reason was range: aircraft could deliver a concerted attack at 200 miles or more, whereas battleships could do so only at 20 miles or less. The foremost tactical question during the transition in the 1920s and '30s was whether aircraft could lift enough destruction to supersede the battleship.
In a non-nuclear strike, such an awful scenario is unlikely. Even if China managed to successfully attack and sink an American aircraft carrier, past military action suggests much of the stricken carrier's crew and air wing would likely survive.
In a rare published report, the Chinese military planners have reached a concerning conclusion regarding the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and its accompanying fleet. They assert that deploying hypersonic weapons can potentially destroy the carrier and its accompanying assets “with certainty,” reported SCMP.
On July 8, an F/A-18E Super Hornet aboard USS Harry S. Truman was blown off the ship after an unexpected storm caused heavy, rolling seas.
In modern United States Navy carrier air operations, a carrier strike group (CSG) normally consists of 1 aircraft carrier, 1 guided missile cruiser (for air defense), 2 LAMPS-capable warships (focusing on anti-submarine and surface warfare), and 1–2 anti-submarine destroyers or frigates.
Its carriers are not powered by nuclear reactors and do not have the same defensive capabilities as those of the United States. Despite these differences, Russia has a range of weapons and technologies that could potentially be used to attack and theoretically sink a United States aircraft carrier.
Bundles of garbage — including pulped paper, ground food, and human wastes — are thrown daily into the Arabian Sea, according to Paul Garwood of the Associated Press. The USS Theodore Roosevelt houses and feeds 5,500 sailors and generates huge amounts of rubbish — food scraps, plastics, and medical wastes.
Torpedoes were also very capable of sinking battleships. On 21 November 1944, USS Sealion sank Kongō with over 1200 casualties. HMS Barham was struck by three torpedoes fired from German submarine U-331.
The Imperial Japanese Navy's Yamato, along with her sister ship Musashi, were the largest battleships ever constructed. Her nine 46cm (18.1-inch) Type 94 main guns employed were the largest ever mounted on a battle wagon, and as a result, she was the most powerfully armed battleship ever constructed.
The ship doesn't move an inch or even heel from a broadside. The guns have a recoil slide of up to 48 inches and the shock is distributed evenly through the turret foundation and the hull structure.
An American naval expert has warned US military planners that the US Navy might lose to China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, which enjoys a substantial numerical advantage over the US, saying, “the side with the most ships almost always wins.”
Although China lags behind the United States regarding operational skills and military hardware, it has also improved relative capabilities in many areas. China has the second largest air force in the world after the United States, which has the most significant air force strength.
The aircraft carrier is vulnerable to gunfire, submarine attack, and air attack, and aircraft carriers have been sunk in this war by all three of these means. There is no excuse for an aircraft carrier being sunk by either gunfire or submarine attack and any carrier so sunk was being very poorly operated at the time.
The blast ripped a 40-foot-wide hole near the waterline of the Cole, killing 17 U.S. sailors and injuring nearly 40 other crew members.
Russian cruise missiles carry up to one-ton warheads designed to destroy huge aircraft carriers. Many U.S. Navy officers see this and favor large warheads, circa 500 pounds or greater, even though the likely targets are cruisers and smaller ships.
Karginov told the media: “The unfinished aircraft carrier Varyag was handed over to Ukraine and then sold to China to convert it into a casino. After China received the ship, it completed its construction and renamed it the Liaoning ship. The ship was originally supposed to become one of the main ships of the USSR.”
World War II gave the world's navies a crash course in the next phase of war at sea. The pointy end of the spear became aircraft, guided weapons (missiles and torpedoes) and submarines—not the guns on board a ship—thus largely ending of the utility of the battleship in the open ocean.
Seven of these ten ships are still in existence. South Dakota, Washington and Indiana were scrapped, but the remainder are now museum ships.
Hitler didn't need the vast fleet of carriers the United States sent to the Pacific in 1945. Every carrier built would have meant fewer tanks and aircraft to stop the Soviet avalanche that eventually trampled Germany in 1945. As for Italy, it didn't have the resources to build many carriers.