Naval War College Review. Volume 64, Number 4, Autumn 2011

• Other Authors: NAVAL WAR COLLEGE NEWPORT RI
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Military Forces and Organizations; *NAVY; AFGHANISTAN; AIRCRAFT CARRIERS; CHINA; INDIAN OCEAN; LEADERSHIP; MILITARY ART; MILITARY HISTORY; MILITARY OPERATIONS; SEA BASED; SECURITY; SOUTH CHINA SEA; MARITIME SECURITY COOPERATION; SEA BASING; OPERATIONS ASSESSMENTS; Cooperation Sea; Indian
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA619217; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA619217

At a time when China's People's Liberation Army Navy and its national leadership appear to have committed themselves firmly to a program of aircraft carrier development over the coming decades, doubts are being voiced increasingly in the West, and not least the United States itself, over the affordability and operational effectiveness of carriers in the current fiscal and strategic environment. Aircraft carriers have served for some seven decades as in effect the capital ship of the U.S. Navy. Will they continue in this role in the future? In addressing this question, Robert C. Rubel, a retired naval aviator, offers a careful review of the evolving doctrinal roles aircraft carriers have played for the Navy in the course of their history and of the emerging strategic and operational challenges they face. He concludes that while some of these roles appear to be obsolescing, the carrier will likely be with us for the foreseeable future, though possibly in lesser numbers and with a reduced emphasis on traditional strike missions. Professor Rubel is dean of the Center for Naval Warfare Studies at the Naval War College.