That is the benefit of forward deployed naval forces. And there is nothing foreseeable in the future that will alter the wisdom of a forward strategy. Additionally, the physical presence of an aircraft carrier and her embarked airplanes presents a significant deterrence to potential conflict. It was reasoned judgment based, at least in part, on that deterrent ability that led our leaders in Washington and Honolulu to direct aircraft carriers to the East China Sea a year ago during a period of increased tensions across the Straits of Taiwan. We had air forces nearby in Okinawa and Japan, both Marine and Air Force, but aircraft carriers were the correct choice.
Aircraft can fly great distances today to deliver a bomb on target.
Some may remember the 1986 strikes on Libya in retaliation for several terrorist acts, including a bombing in a discotheque in Germany. Air Force fighter bombers flew from England, out into the Atlantic Ocean and down the coast off France and Spain, through the Straits of Gibraltar, and nearly half way across the Mediterranean Sea to the Libyan targets. Carrier aircraft also participated in those strikes. They flew from their aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean and were delivering their bombs on target about an hour after they launched. Anyone who has spent time in the confined cockpit of a fighter-type aircraft easily recognizes the differences in these two missions, and admires the skill and endurance of those outstanding Air Force flight crews.