Carriers versus Amphibs

Bryan McGrath has a fantastic article at RealClearDefense discussing the substantial differences between aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships. I've written about some of these issues before ((Austerity and Naval Strategy, A Strategic Dialogue: Force Strength and Structure, and Carrier Aircraft and Economies of Scale), but McGrath's article is truly indispensable, and it's a fairly quick read. As I noted in some of those earlier posts, the current threat environment provides some opportunities for assets less costly than a supercarrier (for example, amphibs and "mobile landing platforms") to fill strategic gaps. However, they don't represent a one-for-one swap with supercarriers, and the supercarriers will remain the foundation of American naval strategy well into the foreseeable future. Put quite simply, they offer indispensable capabilities that alternative platforms can't replicate.