Aircraft carriers in and after the Twilight War

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by 95th Rifleman

Realisticly, how long would the lifespan of a carrier be in a full-blown shooting war? They are the number one naval target, both east and west have a whole fleet of subs desighned with the single purpose of hunting and killing these things.

No one knows for certain (thank GAWD!), but a modern carrier battle group is going to take a lot of effort and a lot of luck to take out of action. Take for example the Saratoga Battle Group in 1993.

This consists of CV-60 Saratoga escorted by the guided missile cruisers CG-19 Dale, CG-34 Biddle, CF-51 Thomas S. Gates and CG-58 Philippine Sea, the primary ASW escorts are the destroyers DD-968 Arthur W. Radford, DD-980 Moosbrugger, DD-974 Comte de Grasse, DD-997 Hayler with the "figs" FFG-24 Jack Williams, FFG-26 Gallery, FFG-29 Stephen W. Groves, and FFG-32 John L. Hall. In support are the subs SSN-676 Billfish and SSN-705 City of Corpus Christi.

The Saratoga has Carrier Air Wing 17 embarked, this consists of VF-74 and VF-103 (9 F-14B ea), VFA-81, and VFA-83 (10 F/A-18C each), VA-35 (10 A-6E), VAQ-132 (4 EA-6B), VAW-125 (4 E-2C), VS-30 (6 S-3B and HS-15 (6 SH-60F and 2 HH-60H).

So what does this bring to the table?
Saratoga is armed 3 Mk29 NATO Sea Sparrow SAM launchers (72 msls) and 3 Mk15 Phalanx.

Dale is a "Leahy"-class 'double-ended' (two twin msl launchers) cruiser and adds 80 SM2ER Sams and 8 Harpoon SSMs.

Biddle is a "Belknap" class 'single-ended' (single twin msl launcher) cruiser and adds 60 SM2ER SAMs and 8 Harpoon to the battle group's defense and a
SH-2F ASW helicopter.

The Thoms S. Gates and Philipine Sea are both "Bunker Hill" class AEEGIS cruisers with 2 60-cell vertical missile launchers, this means that they can be armed with any combination of SM2MR Block III SAMs, Tomahawks or VL ASROC a typical loadout would be 90 SM2MRs, 18 Tomahawks and 14 VL ASROCs. In addition 8 Harpoon SSMs are also carried as well as 2 SH-60 ASW helicopters

Radford, Moosbrugger, Comte de Grasse and Hayler are all "Improved Spruance"-class destroyers refitted with a modified 61-cell vertical missile launcher. They add 24 NATO Sea Sparrow missiles, 57 Tomahawk and 8 Harpoon SSMs and 4 VL ASROC and 2 SH-60 ASW helicopters apiece.

Jack Williams, Gallery, Stephen W. Groves, and John L. Hall are all "Oliver Hazard Perry"-class guided missile frigates. Each one brings in 36 SM1MR SAMs, 4 Harpoon SSMs and 2 SH-60 ASW helicopters.

City of Corpus Christi is armed with 12 Tomahawk and 6 Harpoon SSMs and 20 Mk48 ADCAP torpedoes.

Billfish is armed with 4 Harpoon SSM and 20 Mk48 ADCAP torpedoes.

As you can see, the 'Lady Sara' and her escorts are in a good position to create a lot of damage to any Soviet air strike and have formidable ASW defenses as well. The Soviets (needless to say) can be expected to make a maximum strength effort to damage or sink her.