Why build more aircraft carriers?

The Day of Infamy turns me toward thinking about the Navy, Our Navy, and what it needs for the future. I know some of the regulars here are swabbies.

Battleship USS West Virginia sunk and burning at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. In background is the battleship USS Tennessee.

Going into WWII, the modern navy needed battleships, even though Billy Mitchell had already proved the massive battlewagons were vulnerable to attacks from the air.

Enter the aircraft carriers, which carried the battle to the enemy in the Pacific. I guess everyone is still onboard.

But — I think the day of the aircraft carrier has passed. They are huge, they are expensive and they are magnets for missiles and drones. They are terribly vulnerable.

In an age of missiles, they are no longer needed to bring U.S. fire power close to enemy shores. Submarines do a better job, at less cost.

As you know, “fighter pilots” fly drones in the Mideast from air bases in the States. They don’t need to fly off a carrier to fight, so why do we need the carriers?

Missiles give us more bang for a smaller buck. Or am I missing something important here?

Stu Bykofsky