Quora Answer: How Daunting is the Task of Sinking a US Nimitz-Class Aircraft Carrier Protected by Its Strike Group?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “How daunting is the task of sinking a 2014 US Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, protected by a typically deployed strike group?”

In a military exercise with a US carrier group about a two decades ago, it was done - twice.  I am not going to give specifics, but here are some outlines.  The only other air force who did it, and we learned it from them, were the Israelis.

In the first instance, two strike groups of aircraft were launched.  The first group flew high, and drew away the combat air patrol.  The second flew over the waves, and came between the escorts and the carrier itself.  After a certain angle, the escorts could not fire because they would hit the carrier itself.  This tactic took advantage of the fact that there was a window between the launch of the first group of aircraft, and the second since they cannot all be on deck at the same time.  Also, it requires a high level of skill to fly in formation over the waves for an extended distance.  Certainly there would be casualties, but all it takes is one strike to take out a carrier.

In the second instance, again after luring the combat air patrol away, two cargo aircraft flew high, and released a lot of foil.   This took advantage of a deficiency in the radar equipment.  All that foil confused the radar, and the pilots were blinded.  The planes could not find their way to the carrier, and the planes on deck could not launch.  I believe the radar issue has since been addressed.  A carrier group without its combat air patrol is extremely vulnerable to air and missile strikes.  That is precisely why they tend to stay a certain distance from shore.  Any entire strike group can only shoot down a certain number of aircraft and missiles before the system is overwhelmed.

Carrier groups are force projection instruments, for their psychological impact.  A carrier group by itself, in hostile waters against a competent first world air force, is extremely vulnerable.  The US has never had to face such a threat category since World War II.