This Is Why America's Aircraft Carriers Are Powerful

ATLANTIC OCEAN (Sept. 23, 2014 ) The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) leads a formation of ships from Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 12 during a maneuvering exercise. Theodore Roosevelt participated in the exercise with the Peruvian submarine BAP Islay (SS 35), the guided-missile destroyers USS Winston Churchill (DDG 81), USS Forrest Sherman (DDG 98), USS Farragut (DDG 99) and the guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60). Theodore Roosevelt is underway preparing for future deployments.

Dave Majumdar, National Interest: The Simple Reason Why America's Aircraft Carriers Are So Powerful

“We have 75 plus years of experience with carrier aviation. There are a multitude of safeguards and interlocks to minimize error and ensure a successful arrested landing,” the naval aviator said. “Definitely an abundance of caution.”

Naval aviation is an inherently dangerous business, but over the course of more than 75 years, through robust procedures, rigorous training and continuous practice, the U.S. Navy has honed its carrier flight deck operations into a well-oiled machine. Accidents do happen, but the Navy is continually working on improving flight deck safety. Every time there is a mishap, the accident is investigated so that procedures can be refined to prevent a recurrence.

But those lessons have often come at price in lives lost, injuries and monetary costs. Hundreds of men have been killed or injured during accidents at sea onboard a carrier. As one now-retired naval aviator told me—with only slight hyperbole: “Every line in the NATOPS manual is written in blood.”

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WNU Editor: The above post gives a list of some of the disasters that the US Navy has learned over the years on conducting air operations. This is something that the Chinese are going to learn as they start to deploy their aircraft carriers.