Anti-submarine aircraft carrier

An **anti-submarine aircraft carrier** (CVS) is an aviation ship unit tasked primarily with operating anti-submarine aircraft. It differs from a standard aircraft carrier in being generally smaller and more limited in the aircraft it can carry and thus has been modified to focus on operating anti-submarine aircraft and helicopters which typically do not require the size and handing capabilities needed for contemporary fighter and strike aircraft operated by standard carriers.

After the early Cold War, as ASW helicopters became commonplace on surface combatants and larger ASW aircraft exceeded the CVS aircraft handling capabilities and thus were integrated into standard carrier air groups, the need for specialist ASW carriers faded. By the end of the 1970s, they had practically all been withdrawn or converted to other uses.

## Strategy

ASW carriers are a major asset with a very specific task, and as such must be operated skillfully as part of a larger fleet to be most effective. While it is possible to carry an air wing of more typical fighter and attack types, due to their obsolescent size and other facilities, those are best left to standard aircraft carriers to carry. Typically a CVS operates in conjunction with a small surface escort to provide air defense and enhance submarine hunting operations, though most of the group's submarine detection and attack capability is provided by the embarked aircraft. The group is usually tasked with one of three broad mission profiles: escort, barrier, or hunter-killer operations.

When assigned to escort a convoy or other priority asset, the carrier commander must maintain a steady pace of air operations to ensure a large perimeter around the convoy is clear of underwater threats. For slow convoys, full 360 degree coverage is required, while for faster ones, more advance patrol missions will be warranted to allow time to detect and neutralize threats prior to the convoy running into them. The group should maintain some distance from the convoy itself so that in case the carrier's location is detected, the convoy may yet escape.

Barrier missions involve patrolling a particular sea zone to prevent enemy submarines from transiting them. These will often be set up at choke points or as shields to prevent enemy submarines from interfering in other allied operations. In this case aggressive patrolling of the defined zone is needed, especially to identify and fix the location of intruders. The carrier and its escorts can backstop this zone, ideally not being within the zone itself, but opposite to the direction the enemy is approaching to avoid the enemy getting an opportune shot at the carrier.

Finally, hunter-killer missions are those in which a large geographic area has been assigned to the group with the mission of finding and killing enemy submarines operating in the area. This can be difficult as the carrier will need to keep moving to cover the large distances involved and will have to balance long-range sub hunting missions by its aircraft against maintaining its own defense perimeter. The commander needs to cast as wide a net as possible to catch enemy submarines, but cannot afford to open a gap allowing its prey to get in close and torpedo the carrier.

When attacking a CVS group, aircraft or long-range surface action are typically going to get the best results. The ship is very focused on ASW and so using submarines to target one is very risky. Aircraft can neutralize the carrier as they typically lack strong air defense and even fighters alone can succeed in preventing the carrier's helicopters from operating beyond the immediate range of their escorts' anti-aircraft weaponry. Surface ships can often take advantage of the older machinery and equipment of the carrier to get in range of their own anti-shipping weapons, but be wary as many ASW aircraft have alternative anti-shipping loadouts and once exposed, the CVS commander will likely target surface combatants that appear threatening. Also, since a CVS can only really operate in cooperation with other fleet elements, depriving it of this support will often force a withdrawal of the ASW group.

## Model list

### Modern models

There is 1 model of this type in the Modern database as of v491:

1. R 08 Bulwark (1978)

### Cold War models

There are 36 models of this type in the Cold War database as of v491:

1. A 11 Minas Gerais (1960)
2. CVL 26 Monterey (1943)
3. CVL 28 Cabot (1943)
4. CVL 29 Bataan (1943)
5. CVS 09 Essex (1960)
6. CVS 09 Essex (1967)
7. CVS 10 Yorktown (1957)
8. CVS 10 Yorktown (1967)
9. CVS 11 Intrepid (1962)
10. CVS 11 Intrepid (1965)
11. CVS 12 Hornet (1958)
12. CVS 12 Hornet (1965)
13. CVS 14 Ticonderoga (1967)
14. CVS 15 Randolph (1959)
15. CVS 15 Randolph (1967)
16. CVS 16 Lexington (1962)
17. CVS 18 Wasp (1956)
18. CVS 18 Wasp (1967)
19. CVS 20 Bennington (1959)
20. CVS 20 Bennington (1967)
21. CVS 21 Boxer (1956)
22. CVS 32 Leyte (1952)
23. CVS 33 Kearsarge (1958)
24. CVS 33 Kearsarge (1962)
25. CVS 33 Kearsarge (1967)
26. CVS 36 Antietam (1953)
27. CVS 37 Princeton (1954)
28. CVS 39 Lake Champlain (1957)
29. CVS 40 Tarawa (1956)
30. CVS 45 Valley Forge (1954)
31. CVS 47 Philippine Sea (1955)
32. CVS Sea Control Ship (1975)
33. R 08 Bulwark (1978)
34. R 12 Hermes (1976)
35. R 81 Karel Doorman (1958)
36. R 95 Arromanches (1962)