Chief of Naval Operations Daryl Caudle acknowledged that the US Navy had too few aircraft carriers to send them—and their vast support squadrons—to deal with every problem.

The US Navy is attempting to limit the type of missions that its aircraft carriers conduct—in order to allow them to focus on the most important challenges, given the shortage of vessels in the US fleet and the need to set priorities. 

Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Daryl Caudle, the most senior officer in the Navy, recently revealed his plans for changes in the traditional carrier strike group model that would offer greater flexibility to the fleet.  

Aircraft Carriers Need Specific Missions, Caudle Says

Caudle said that the Navy would be tackling challenges with units specifically tailored to address them. Instead of deploying aircraft carriers and their strike battlegroups to address all missions, he explained, the Navy would start deploying smaller forces to address smaller missions. In principle, this will allow the Navy to respond faster to contingencies around the world.  

The CNO gave the example of a minesweeping operation in the Strait of Hormuz and stated that, in the future, a full carrier strike group would not deploy for such a mission. 

“If I had a lot of strike groups, I could place these things all over the world,” Caudle said in January. “But we don’t have enough, [and] as you think about these various missions around the world — whether it be choke point defense or protection, sea lines of communication, anti-submarine warfare, ISR, maritime domain awareness — I just, quite frankly, don’t need a strike group to do all those.” 

Caudle referred to the destroyer swaps in the USS Gerald R. Ford’s carrier strike group in 2023 during the conflict between Israel and Hamas—when two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, USS The Sullivans and USS Delbert D. Black, joined the carrier group in the middle of its deployments, relieving the original destroyers that had accompanied the flattop. 

“We did learn a lot from these loops that we did, if you will, of pushing forces there into the Mediterranean for some of the things we did in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, and those are just being factored right back in,” Caudle said. 

Understanding the US Navy’s Carrier Strike Groups

A carrier strike group is centered around an aircraft carrier and its onboard carrier air wing. Then, a host of support warships and logistical vessels accompany the flattop, maximizing its offensive and defensive capabilities.

For example, Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 3 is currently deployed in the Arabian Sea as part of the air and naval armada that President Donald Trump has ordered to steam toward Iran. That strike group is centered on the flagship USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9. The carrier air wing includes a total of nine Navy and Marine Corps fixed-wing and rotary-wing air squadrons, which operate a variety of platforms, including F-35C Lightning II stealth fighter jets, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter jets, EA-18G electronic warfare jets, and V-22 Osprey helicopters.

In addition to the carrier and its aircraft, the strike group also includes three Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers—the USS Frank E. Petersen, Jr. (DDG-121), USS Spruance (DDG-111) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112)—each of which has potent air defense and anti-submarine warfare capabilities and can fire dozens of Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles. The destroyers are intended to protect the aircraft carrier from external drone and missile threats, as well as supporting it in strikes against land targets. Additional destroyers can also join the squadron on a case-by-case basis, depending on its needs. This structure is typical of the US Navy’s other carrier strike groups as well.

About the Author: Stavros Atlamazoglou  

Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from the Johns Hopkins University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.

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