What You Need to Know: Naval warfare is evolving, with the utility of large surface combatants like carriers, cruisers, and destroyers increasingly under scrutiny. Advances in drones, missile technology, and asymmetric tactics challenge these vessels’ survivability.

-Drones, cost-effective and capable of swarming, are difficult to detect and counter. Simultaneously, mass missile barrages can overwhelm defensive systems, as recent conflicts have demonstrated. Ukraine’s success in neutralizing much of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet—with no navy of its own—further underscores these vulnerabilities.

-This shift suggests large surface combatants may face obsolescence, pushing strategists to explore new, agile methods of projecting power in an era of multifaceted threats.

Warfare is an ever changing art and navies the world are not excepted from this evolution. From oars, to sail, to steam, to flight, the nature of naval combat has undergone dramatic changes. Now, strategists and planners are beginning to debate whether another sea change is in order, namely, if there is a role for large surface........

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