[quote=@WilsonTurner] A shame that the "sink me" sign is guarded by dozens of ballistic missiles, enough multipurpose fighters to launch 700 sorties in a day, the most advanced countermeasures the world knows. You know... more justice than anyone can take on. Also, large capital ships means that their volume-to-surface-area ratio is much more in favor of the volume- meaning that a large ship can produce loads more power, and therefore support loads more. A smaller ship would have trouble running several systems at once, because of such limitations- meanwhile, a capital ship, a large ship, can carry more resources to go on longer journeys, produce more power or product, use more weapons at one time, consistently, while also supporting other support modules, like shields, electronic warfare, etc. A destroyer might be able to confuse larger ships by using a couple powerful weapons, a light shield and radar-scrambling tech. Meanwhile, a dreadnought would be able to support enough weapons to take on multiple ships all around it, while having thicker armor and more powerful shields, while also disrupting enemy radar and even making ghosts of itself so that others will have trouble picking the right target. Sure, you can complete the same as a large-ship fleet with a dozen times more with smaller ships, but the smaller ships are each easier to destroy, and would require a great deal more discipline and control, meaning that one can focus on certain ships and destroy enemy productivity. The same goes both ways- smaller ships can focus on larger ships from more angles than what larger ships could handle, and use each other to confuse weapons and defeat countermeasures. It's really depending on specialty. Armor is does not leap ahead of everything else, just as weapons are not overly powerful, at least conventional weapons. Our body armor can stop a bullet- and it will likely to stay that way for quite a while. An armored suit may be able to stop bullets, but then the guns will be evolved to pierce the suit, so the suit will evolve to remain protective, and so weapons will evolve, and etc. A nation who invests heavily in one kind of ship will obviously have very good ships of that type compared to other nations who invest in a different class or type. For example, had industrialists invested more in rotary-driven engines rather than piston-driven engines, it's quite possible that rotary-driven engines would've been far more efficient and common- but they weren't, so they aren't as good, because there is less reason to do so. [/quote] Larger ships also have a higher upkeep Larger =/= more durable. You don't make large ships for strength, you make them to carry more stuff (IE: Ships o' the line were designed to carry a shit tonne more guns (and had a rather dubious combat record) Aircraft carriers are designed to carry a shit tonne of air craft (and outside of ww2 have not really had a proper field test)) I have mixed feelings on my own nations latest venture into Aircraft carreirs because A: Nobody really needs them B: They are a huge investment of resources that can be lost extremely easily C: The time is not right for such military investments anyway D: I'd rather they built the other 6 type 45's than two super carriers, and from the sounds of things the Type 26 could do with some more love (I'm rather concerned that the specifications were all altered to half the cost of the ship, that's not a good sign in my eyes). I feel that sacrifices have been made across the whole navy just so we have the carriers, possibly because the US apparently made comments that the Royal Navy needed Aircraft carriers to operate alongside them (Honestly, if that's true, I think I speak for a good chunk of the population when I say it'd be better if the Prime Minister had told the US to go shove it's carriers up their backside.) At the very, very most I think there is a need one Supercarrier not two (and that's debatable). Whatever the case, they've started now so they may as well finish I suppose :/ And I'm not exactly convinced of the effectiveness of the aircraft carriers and US naval doctrine in general; "One event that shocked Van Riper occurred in 2002 when he was asked, as he had been before, to play the commander of an enemy Red Force in a huge $250 million three-week war game titled Millennium Challenge 2002. It was widely advertised as the best kind of such exercises — a free-play unscripted test of some of the Pentagon’s and Rumsfeld’s fondest ideas and theories..." "In the computer-controlled game, a flotilla of Navy warships and Marine amphibious warfare ships steamed into the Persian Gulf for what Van Riper assumed would be a pre-emptive strike against the country he was defending." "Van Riper resolved to strike first and unconventionally using fast patrol boats and converted pleasure boats fitted with ship-to-ship missiles as well as first generation shore-launched anti-ship cruise missiles. He packed small boats and small propeller aircraft with explosives for one mass wave of suicide attacks against the Blue fleet. Last, the general shut down all radio traffic and sent commands by motorcycle messengers, beyond the reach of the code-breakers." "In a preemptive strike, Red launched a massive salvo of cruise missiles that overwhelmed the Blue forces’ electronic sensors and destroyed sixteen warships. This included one aircraft carrier, ten cruisers and five of six amphibious ships. An equivalent success in a real conflict would have resulted in the deaths of over 20,000 service personnel. Soon after the cruise missile offensive, another significant portion of Blue’s navy was “sunk” by an armada of small Red boats, which carried out both conventional and suicide attacks that capitalized on Blue’s inability to detect them as well as expected." These conditions were considered a Red Victory "The referees stopped the game, which is normal when a victory is won so early. Van Riper assumed that the Blue Force would draw new, better plans and the free play war games would resume. Instead he learned that the war game was now following a script drafted to ensure a Blue Force victory: He was ordered to turn on all his anti-aircraft radar so it could be destroyed and he was told his forces would not be allowed to shoot down any of the aircraft bringing Blue Force troops ashore." Van Riper refused to continue cause he was pissed that the alleged test had been changed to end in an overwhelming American victory. Doesn't sound all that positive a case to me. Edit: I want to say that the carriers [i]should[/i] have been further out in the Gulf and thus the close range attack wouldn't work. However, an important thing to note from this is that the carriers were vulnerable and needed to be away from the strategic zone. The aircraft would have still been operable at this distance of course. This would have separated them from the strike group that was going to deploy the landing forces though, and given that they were taken down like this I think it's entirely possible they could be accosted and taken down by hostile ships ships while the American Ships were getting their arses handed to them in the gulf by the pre-emptive strike.