Do US super-carriers make sense anymore? The BBC goes on board one

It looked little at first, in the great expanse of the Pacific Ocean. As we approached the USS Carl Vinson, the deck of the Osprey tilt-rotor, which was carrying us it, was crowded with state-of-the-art aircraft. At almost 90, 000 kilograms, and more than 300 meters in length, the nuclear-powered Carl Vinson is one of the largest vessels actually built.

It is spine-tingling to watch the company’s steam catapults launch its FA18 and F35 fighter jets every minute or two, a process that the crew on the packed deck masterfully managed with amazing composure.

An unfortunate Pacific squall that soaked us and failed to slow them down at all caused them to do so.

With its ship of 11 super-carriers, the United States is nevertheless unmatched in terms of its ability to deploy army anywhere in the world despite decades of rapid advancements in Taiwanese military functions.

But does a$ 13 billion ( £10 billion ) aircraft carrier that Donald Trump’s most recent Chinese missiles could scuttle in a matter of minutes make sense?

We were invited to the Carl Vinson to see a different part of US ship strategy, one that emphasizes American friendliness and willingness to work with friends, things you don’t hear much about in Washington these times.

About 200 kilometers west of the Philippines, the Carl Vinson was participating in an exercise with two additional aircraft operators and their escorting ships from France and Japan. US ship groups invest a lot of their time learning how to collaborate with allies in the presence of wars to fight. One practice from last year brought up ships from 18 fleets.

Although this one was smaller, it was the first time in the Pacific that a European ship had worked for more than 40 years.

Back Adm. Michael Wosje, the leader of the Carl Vinson’s hit power, was sitting with his French partner Rear Adm. Jacques Mallard of the ship Charles de Gaulle and his Chinese partner Back Adm. Natsui Takashi of the Kaga, which is undergoing conversion to Japan’s second aircraft carrier since World War II, below the hushed flight deck.

The Charles de Gaulle is the only ship in the world that can do some of the same things as the US super-carriers, but it is only half as big.

All three generals were brimming with geniality.

The risky moments in Europe, where President Trump’s people were ripping up the rule book that had for the past 80 years, and telling one-time friends they were then independent, seemed a planet away.

” Our channel of powerful alliances and collaborations, such as those that we share with France and Japan, is a key benefit of our governments as we confront our social security problems”, said Adm Wosje. Adm. Mallard remarked in excellent English that” this exercise is the expression of a desire to advance the defense of compliance in worldwide law” and that it is intended to improve understanding of each other.

No single mentioned the extreme new ideas emanating from Washington, nor did they mention China, though Adm Natsui may have been thinking about both when he said Japan was now in” the most serious and complex security surroundings.” No nation can then stand alone to guard her own safety.

The official photographs of the new president and vice-president were now hanging, the one of Trump with its now-famous combative influences, down in the warren of metal corridors that make up the 5, 000 living quarters of the 5, 000 men and women on the Carl Vinson. Some of the people on board were curious what I thought of the new administration, but we were not allowed to interview the crew and politics would have been off-limits in any case.

Although the board has limited access to the internet, home is still connected. We were informed that they even receive Amazon pick-ups from designated pick-up locations while at sea.

It is a fair bet then that there is plenty of discussion of what President Trump has in store for these giants of the navy. Elon Musk has already vowed to bring his cost-cutting wrecking ball to the Pentagon and its $900bn budget, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has welcomed that, although, he stressed, the Pentagon is not USAID which President Trump has vowed to shut down completely.

In the hangar, we watched the crew working on the aircraft, surrounded by spare parts and packing cases. We were advised not to film any of these cutting-edge technologies out of fear of revealing secret information. We couldn’t even take the risk of touching the F35 fighters, which have a priceless special coating to keep them hidden from radar.

A technician who identified himself as “082 Madeiro” explained that the engines needed to be completely replaced after a certain number of hours to keep the aircraft flying during lengthy deployments and that they needed to have them repaired and tested. In his enormous packaging was a brand-new engine next to him. Cost, around$ 15m.

The Carl Vinson’s annual operating budget is about$ 700 million.

Will the Pentagon budget be attacked by the Trump administration? Hegseth has stated that he thinks there are significant savings to be made. He has also made some open mumbling about the worth of aircraft carriers. What does it look like if 15 hypersonic missiles can destroy our ten aircraft carriers in the first 20 minutes of conflict, as he claimed in an interview last November?

The topic of aircraft carriers ‘ utility has a long history. It dates back to when they first appeared a century ago. Critics today contend that they are too vulnerable to the most recent generation of Chinese ballistic and hypersonic missiles, making it necessary for them to stay far enough away from the Chinese coast to put their aircraft out of range. The money, they say, would be better spent on newer technology.

These massive, welded hunks of steel, which appeared to have had their peak during the Pacific War of the 1940s, have an archaic quality. Yet in the vast expanse of the ocean, with few airfields, it has proved difficult to do without them. Supporters argue that, with their escorts of guided-missile destroyers, the super carriers can defend themselves quite well, and that they are still hard to sink. When you downsize these carriers, you end up with vessels that are even more vulnerable because you only have helicopters or planes that can land and take off vertically as many countries have done.

China, which has already constructed three aircraft carriers, should also be noted. Whatever the economic justifications are for and against them, they may appeal to President Trump, a man known for his love of flamboyant structures, as floating symbols of US prestige.

Pete Hegseth stated at his Senate confirmation hearing that the Trump administration would prioritize increased shipbuilding, but he did not specify how this could be accomplished. The US has only four naval shipyards left, China has, by some estimates, more than 200 times the ship-building capacity of the US. He also stated to his Japanese and South Korean counterparts that he wanted to strengthen their cooperation in terms of defense. Although Europe may be on its own, it seems that this White House will pay attention to Asian allies as they examine China’s strategic challenge.

Three new Ford-class nuclear carriers, the next generation after the Carl Vinson, are currently under construction, although two will not be in service until the next decade. Ten of this new class of carriers are the intention, and so far there haven’t been any indications that the Trump administration wants to change that. For all its many critics, the US super-carrier is probably here to stay.