Tim, if we went to war with Iran we wouldn't have INSTANT air cover..
We would actually. We would send at least a couple of carriers maybe 5 (although that would take up about half of what we have for the whole world)..
If they just sank ONE carrier it could mean we'd lose 3000.
The carrier would have more than 3000 but if it goes down you probably wouldn't lose everyone. The real point is that unless we use out carriers in totally foolish ways, with no real effort at intelligent force protection, the odds of losing one are minuscule. One carrier air wing by itself, without help from other carriers, land based planes, or escorts, could probably fight off the Iranian air force, and we would send carriers in groups with escorts. The big risk is submarines, but fortunately Iran has a limited force. Still it might be enough to keep our carriers further away which increases flight time which decreases sorties per day, so it has some effect, but the effect is to slow us down not to lose a carrier unless they get amazingly lucky.
They're great for extending your power, but they're LOUSY for "representing" your power.
If they where obsolete (which they aren't) they would probably still be good for representing power in show the flag efforts but no so good at actually projecting useful power.
But American carrier groups, esp. against 3rd rank powers like Iran (or even more against still weaker nations) are still really good at projecting power.
That goes back to WWII when the Japanese rolled out the GREATEST war ship in History
Notice it was destroyed by carrier planes. So even if carriers where obsolete you would have picked a very poor example.
The largest battleship in history, but probably not the most powerful warship of even WWII. If it got close it could sink a carrier or other major vessel before it could be sunk, but it never had a chance to get close. It had to cross hundreds of miles of sea while in range of American carrier planes. It went up against a force of dozens of carriers, and never had a chance to get in range. Its only escorts where a few destroyers to try to stop sub attacks, it had no carrier support or land based planes to protect it. Even if the US didn't have the carriers or any land based planes to attack it, it still wouldn't have had a chance since it would have faced over a dozen battleships, a bunch of cruisers, and scores of destroyers, it might have taken some ships with it, but it would have gone down. We had more planes to send against it than it had crewmembers, it was one major ship against pretty much the largest fleet in history. It only shows that tiny navies have no chance against huge navies (which only supports the idea that Iran's navy has no chance against ours).
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