America has 11 aircraft carriers. So why is the US Navy struggling to deploy more than three at once?
In this bonus video explainer, The Sunday Times’s Mark Urban examines the growing strain on America’s carrier fleet. These 100,000-ton floating airfields have long been symbols of US military power, but delayed ships, lengthy repairs and overstretched crews are making it increasingly difficult to keep them at sea. If Washington cannot reliably deploy the fleet it already has, what does that mean for America’s ability to project power around the world – and are aircraft carriers becoming a symbol not of US strength, but of its limits?
00:00 – America’s aircraft carrier problem
00:53 – Delayed ships and ageing carriers
02:24 – Trump’s proposed carrier redesign
03:25 – Longer deployments, greater strain
04:50 – The carrier gap in the Pacific
06:09 – The $25 billion carrier group at risk
07:30 – The cost to the wider fleet
08:38 – Shipyard decline and military power
Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk
Producer: Yasmin Butt
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