The Lightning Carrier Isn’t Either
By Captain Talbot Manvel, U.S. Navy (Retired)
July 2023 Proceedings Vol. 149/7/1,445
Since the arrival of the America-class amphibious assault ships into the fleet, there have been numerous articles championing them as Lightning or light carriers (CVLs). Indeed, a recent article in Proceedings argues the Americas are as survivable as the similarly sized Essex-class carriers—citing the USS Franklin (CV-13), which survived the worst bombing attack of World War II—and offers the USS Bataan’s (LHD-5) 2003 Operation Iraqi Freedom deployment as a “Harrier carrier” as proof of the concept.1
There are a few problems with this line of thinking.
Survivability
All U.S. Navy warships are designed to accomplish their most demanding mission. For amphibious assault ships, that is amphibious assault, and to conduct amphibious assault, these ships are built to a lower survivability level (Level II) than aircraft carriers (Level III).
Level II permits amphibious assault ships to be designed and built to carry out the Marine Corps’ concepts of operational maneuver from the sea and ship-to-objective maneuver, which require unobstructed, wide-open spaces, passageways, and ramps with no fire curtains or dividing doors that might impede the rapid movement of Marines, vehicles, and material ashore. That the America-class LHAs and World War II–era modified Essex-class carriers have a similar displacement does not mean they are equally survivable.
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2023/july/lightning-carrier-isnt-either
