There’s an old saying that countries plan for future wars based on past wars. History is full of examples of obsolete thinking. The Maginot line was designed to keep the German Army out of France in 1939. They went around it! Our Rainbow Plan in 1941 was for our battleships to steam out of Pearl Harbor to keep the Japanese out of the Philippines. They all lay on the Harbor bottom December 8th.

            Because the aircraft carrier proved to be the real weapons of destruction in World War II, Korea and Viet Name plus smaller conflicts, we will put carriers in the way of the Chinese attacking Taiwan. A carrier battle group is composed of several ships designed to protect the carrier. The outer ring is to protect against submarines. The inner ring defends against simple missiles and aircraft. The carrier itself has some anti-missile and aircraft defenses plus its planes.

            In today’s Chinese armaments exists missiles which can hit a carrier within a few yards of the aiming point at a speed no defense weapon can stop. They have thousands of aircraft of which many are stealthy as are their missiles. A battle group has thousands of sailors on board who could be swimming, if they are lucky, in a few minutes.

            Unless they are to be a sacrificial tripwire, they have no business near Taiwan. Our planners need a Plan B to protect Taiwan.