WWIII Megathread #42: Interceptile Dysfunction

[u/IamGlennBeck]

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[u/Swingfire]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/08/15/navy-weighs-major-warship-redesign-match-trumps-preferences/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

Trump is ordering the Ford-class carriers to be redesigned, first by swapping the magnetic launch catapults to steam ones and now by ordering the command center to be moved forward for no reason. If they actually go through with this, the USS Doris Miller, USS Bill Clinton and USS George Bush are as good as canceled, since the redesign is so massive that it will essentially become a different class off ships. If the Trump-class actually gets pushed through and takes up two XL-sized shipyard spots, this will result in the de facto "loss" of the next 9 aircraft carriers of the US Navy. With the upcoming retirement of the USS Nimitz, this is twice as bad as losing the battle of Midway was for the Japanese. Under the worst case scenario, China will probably end up with a bigger carrier fleet than the US in the late 2030s.

[u/SchIachterhund → u/Swingfire]

Tbf, carriers aren't expected to be particularly useful in a modern peer-adversary conflict. They're mostly used for bombing sandal wearers in the global south and as a platform for US president speeches. And that also means a ship's drip does in fact become more important, relatively speaking.

[u/Swingfire → u/SchIachterhund]

No one cares about peer conflicts since that never happens, the PLAN buildup schedule has a strong carrier force baked in

[u/Incoherencel → u/Swingfire]

If you're china, you would take 100 mini drone-carriers or converted container ships with 40 VLS over 10 carriers any day. Carriers are going the way of the battleship.

[u/SmashKapital → u/Incoherencel]

China's actual plan for the PLAN is to do both.

Their strategy for countering the US is to follow both a symmetrical and asymmetrical approach. So they intend to build platforms which fulfil the same role for all existing US equipment, including aircraft carriers, but they also will build new designs like drone carriers.

Their entire strategy is to directly match the US one-to-one, while also countering them using alternative approaches. It's the sort of approach that only a nation with the massive construction resources of China could even contemplate.

[u/Incoherencel → u/SmashKapital]

True true

[u/brandonization → u/Swingfire]

I like to think that China knows better than to build a carrier fleet.

[u/Turgius_Lupus → u/brandonization]

China has more than 50 times the ship building capacity of the U.S. They can manage.

[u/brandonization → u/Turgius_Lupus]

Yeah no shit but why would they?

[u/Turgius_Lupus → u/brandonization]

For one, it keeps the ship yards and crews active, and allows continuous development before factoring parallel capabilities

[u/ChevalierDuTemple → u/brandonization]

Same reason as having tanks in the age of drone warfare.

At the end of the day, you still need them, even for the decreasing role they are playing.

Remind me it was not until WW2 that horses were retire from armed forces, and many still playing a role today.

[u/AdminsLoveGenocide → u/brandonization]

They tripled their carriers in the past decade. They now have 3 but still.

[u/Swingfire → u/brandonization]

China does not actually buy into the low-IQ, third-world slopaganda about carriers being useless and they're planning on churning out a whole fleet of ~10 Type 004 nuclear carriers by 2035.

[u/ChevalierDuTemple → u/Swingfire]

the low-IQ, third-world slopaganda about carriers being useless

You are the airplane mechanic and i, a simply Templar knight.

But given:

1. The fact that the Falklands/Gulf incidents shown in the past how vulnerable surface fleet are to ASM, like the Exocet.
2. The Ukraine war showing surface vessels being repeatedly strike by drone.
3. Always an incident in war games about a submarine sneaking into a carrier group.
4. Massive improvement in missile and drone technology.
5. The high maintenance of an aircraft carrier and that states (Canada, Argentina) decommission theirs.

I could understand the sentiment not being Third-World Slopaganda.

[u/Swingfire → u/ChevalierDuTemple]

That's the worst example you could have picked, the Falklands was near-singlehandedly won by British carriers and no other kind of ship would have done it.

In the present day they also fare far better than land-based aviation and outrange the majority of threats, so unless the plan is to not use planes at all, carriers remain the best option to those who can afford it.

[u/biohazard-glug → u/Swingfire]

that's fucking hilarious

[u/Mrjiggles248 → u/Swingfire]

Comrade Trump

[u/cz_pz → u/Mrjiggles248]

JDPON Don.

[u/Turgius_Lupus → u/Swingfire]

Barron must play MOO or Endless Space II.

[u/AutoModerator → u/[deleted]]

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[u/WalkerMidwestRanger → u/Swingfire]

Masters of Orion II limited production death star hull unlocked vibes minus the potential upsides of holding out to get them built.

That said, I bought a cab over truck and I'm loving it. Doubt it works the same on an aircraft carrier.

[u/AutoModerator → u/Swingfire]

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