A Carrier At Risk

The naval warfare of the last few decades appears dominated by operations of fast missile craft and a wide diversity of other minor vessels in so-called ‘littoral warfare'. On the contrary, skills and knowledge about anti-submarine warfare on the high seas – a discipline that dominated much of the World War II, and once used to be the reason for existence of large fleets of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and of the Warsaw Pact – appear nearly extinct. Indeed, it seems that no armed conflicts involving this form of naval warfare have been fought for a significant time. As so often, the reality is entirely different. Submarine and anti-submarine warfare remain one of most sophisticated forms of armed conflicts to this day. Unsurprisingly, considering the amount of high-technology equipment necessary for their conduct, they are shrouded behind a thick veil of secrecy.