What You Need to Know: Aircraft carriers are critical warships, projecting immense power and influence, but they are also vulnerable. During a 2005 U.S. Navy exercise, the Swedish diesel-powered HSMS Gotland submarine demonstrated this vulnerability by "sinking" the USS Ronald Reagan and its battlegroup multiple times.

-The Gotland’s near-silent Stirling engines enabled it to evade detection and penetrate the carrier’s defenses, highlighting weaknesses in anti-submarine warfare strategies.

-Costing just $100 million, the Gotland contrasted sharply with the multi-billion-dollar carrier it hypothetically defeated.

As China expands its naval capabilities, such incidents emphasize the need for robust countermeasures to protect these strategic assets in modern conflicts.

Aircraft carriers are the most expensive warships out there. The most advanced carrier in the world, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has a price tag of $13 billion. Although the extreme in the spectrum, this price tag isn’t too far from the average cost of an aircraft carrier, which is anywhere from $4 to $9 billion.

The hefty cost highlights the strategic and........

© The National Interest