Against the backdrop of the ongoing Defence Review and naval air power deployed in the Red Sea, the debate about the viability of aircraft carriers continues. In this guest article, Tim Griffiths considers the remarkable ability of these ships to withstand enemy action and serious accidents.
A very rarely talked about strength of the aircraft carrier is its survivability. An ability to absorb damage from enemy action or accident and keep operating or make it to a suitable place for repairs to fight again another day. That’s not to say the aircraft carrier is unsinkable. The Japanese lost three in an afternoon at the Battle of Midway in 1942, and in 2020, after a fire broke out during refit that took four days to put out, the assault ship/light carrier USS Bonhomme Richard was deemed beyond economical repair. But in the 80 years since 1945 not a single aircraft carrier has been lost to enemy action. This period encompasses the Suez crisis, Korea, Vietnam, the Falklands, the Gulf War, the Iraq War and the best attempts of the Houthis in the Red Sea.
The political threat
Plots to axe aircraft carriers have been part of the political discourse over the last sixty years. Under Harold Wilson’s Labour government of the mid-1960s it was decided to run down the RN carrier force and cancel plans to build CVA-01, the new large fleet carrier. HMS Victorious was run down quicker than planned, a small fire onboard was used as the excuse. HMS Eagle was laid up and cannibalised for spares to keep her sister the famous HMS Ark Royal, going until 1978. A new type of ship was conceived by the RN to be called the ‘through-deck cruiser’. It was actually an anti-submarine helicopter carrier, but the word ‘carrier’ was not to be used. By the time HMS Invincible entered service with her Sea Harriers and Sea King helicopters, it wasn’t really possible to call her anything other than an aircraft carrier.
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