Carrier battle group

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The Abraham Lincoln battle group during the 2000 RIMPAC exercises

A carrier battle group (CVBG) consists of an aircraft carrier (CV) and its escorts.

[edit] History

The CVBG was first used in World War II, primarily in conflicts between the United States and Japan in the Pacific. CVBGs at the time consisted of a far larger number of ships than current CVBGs, and this marked the only time CVBGs have fought each other, notably at the Battle of Coral Sea for the first time and then at the epic Battle of Midway one month later. In the Pacific theater, the carrier replaced the battleship as the measure of power projection and relative strength. The U.S. eventually put over 100 carriers of varying sizes to sea and employed the carrier battle groups in large formations under its 3rd and 5th Fleets.

During the Cold War, the main role of the CVBG in case of conflict with the Soviet Union would have been to protect Atlantic supply routes between the United States and Europe, while the role of the Soviet Navy would have been to interrupt these sea lanes, a fundamentally easier task. Because the Soviet Union had no large carriers of its own, a situation of dueling aircraft carriers would have been unlikely. However, a primary mission of the Soviet Navy's attack submarines was to shadow every CVBG and, on the outbreak of hostilities, sink the carriers. Understanding this threat, the CVBG expended enormous resources in its own anti-submarine warfare mission.

[edit] Carrier battle groups in crises

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, most of the uses of CVBGs by the United States as well as that of other nations have been in situations in which their use has been uncontested by other comparable forces.

[edit] Taiwan Strait

The main scenario involving carriers coming under fire which is of interest to naval strategists has been a conflict between the United States and the People's Republic of China over the Taiwan Straits.^{[citation needed]} Carrier battle groups have been involved in the disputes related to the Taiwan Strait since President Truman sent the Seventh Fleet through the Strait as a "neutralization" move at the beginning of the Korean War in 1950 ^[1]. There is a consensus among observers that most of the military effort expended by the People's Liberation Army Navy since the 1990s has been to at least complicate the deployment of a CVBG in a Taiwan Strait conflict.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Carriers in the 1956 Suez Crisis

British and French carrier battle groups were involved in the 1956 Suez Crisis.

[edit] Carriers in the Falklands War

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the main scenario of interest would be an attack against a CVBG using large number of anti-ship cruise missiles. The first attempted use of anti-ship missiles against a carrier group was part of Argentina's efforts against Britain in the Falklands War. Interestingly, this was the last conflict in which both sides possessed aircraft carriers.

[edit] Lebanon

The United States Sixth Fleet assembled a force of three carrier battle groups and a battleship during the Lebanese Civil War in 1983. Daily reconnaissance flights were flown over the Bekaa Valley and a strike was flown against targets in the area resulting in loss of an A-6 Intruder and an A-7 Corsair.

[edit] Gulf of Sidra

Carrier battle groups routinely operated in the Gulf of Sidra inside the "Line of Death" proclaimed by Libya resulting in aerial engagements in 1981, 1986 and 1989 between U.S. Nav

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