This really is a superb piece, congratulations @maeday22 and @samlagrone . I realize that I am a seapower homer, and I realize that I remain attached to the antediluvian notion that the aircraft carrier is a remarkably flexible instrument across the range of naval operations, but https://twitter.com/navalhistorian/status/1327230604295987201

there really are only a couple of conclusions to be reached. Either we are asking too much of the existing carrier force, or the existing carrier force is too small for what we ask of it. Since I also remain wedded to the antediluvian notion of the benefit of American power and

influence in the world, I come down squarely on the notion of the carrier force being too small, in fact, I said so quite forcefully five years ago in this @HudsonInstitute report. https://www.hudson.org/research/11731-sharpening-the-spear-the-carrier-the-joint-force-and-high-end-conflict To some degree, the USMC F-35B can, will, and should create some

operational space by allowing us to use big-deck amphibs (LHA/LHD) more like aircraft carriers to do SOME of the things we ask of the CVN. We saw the value of this approach earlier this year when ESG7 and the AMERICA ESG did their thing in the Western Pacific. Given our

insufficient industrial base and resources applied to seapower, we are unlikely to build up the CVN force at anything other than a snail's pace, and if the whiz kids at the current instantiation of OSD are to be believed, we will CUT the carrier force--starting NOW to look at the

big decks (which we have one fewer of since the BHR fire this summer), as "Lightning" carriers is probably the way we should move. It is suboptimal, and it is a reflection of a Navy that is underfunded and overstretched. I will have more time for the anti-CVN crowd's arguments

when I see any evidence that the people we trust to tend our knitting around the world (COCOMS) find them to be less influential and importance in their schemes. In the meantime, we can do nothing and continue to eat up readiness, we can ask less of the CVN's and reap the

penalties of retrenchment, or we can use what we have somewhat differently. Fin.