Carrier battle group Informations

A carrier battle group (CVBG) or carrier strike group (CSG) consists of an aircraft carrier (designated CV) and its large number of escorts, together defining the group. The first naval task forces built around carriers appeared just prior to and during World War II. The Imperial Japanese Navy, IJN, was the first to assemble a large number of carriers into a single task force, known as Kido Butai. This task force was used with devastating effect in the Imperial Japanese Navys attack on Pearl Harbor. Kido Butai operated as the IJNs main carrier battle group until four of its carriers were sunk at the Battle of Midway. In contrast, the United States Navy deployed its large carriers in separate formations, with each carrier assigned its own cruiser and destroyer escorts. These single-carrier formations would often be paired or grouped together for certain assignments, most notably the Battle of the Coral Sea and Midway. By 1943, however, large numbers of fleet and light carriers became available, which required larger formations of three or four carriers. These groups eventually formed the Fast Carrier Task Force, which became the primary battle unit of the U.S. Fifth and Third Fleets.

With the construction of the large super carriers of the Cold War era, the practice of operating each carrier in a single formation was revived. During the Cold War, the main role of the CVBG in case of conflict with the Soviet Union would have been to protect Atlantic supply routes between the United States and Europe, while the role of the Soviet Navy would have been to interrupt these sea lanes, a fundamentally easier task. Because the Soviet Union had no large carriers of its own, a situation of dueling aircraft carriers would have been unlikely. However, a primary mission of the Soviet Navys attack submarines was to track every allied battle group and, on the outbreak of hostilities, sink the carriers. Understanding this threat, the CVBG expended enormous resources in its own anti-submarine warfare mission.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, most of the uses of carrier battle groups by the United States as well as that of other nations have been in situations in which their use has been uncontested by other comparable forces. During the Cold War, an important battle scenario was an attack against a CVBG using a large number of antiship missiles.

British and French carrier battle groups were involved in the 1956 Suez Crisis.

During the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, India used its carrier strike group centered on INS Vikrant to impose a naval blockade upon East Pakistan. Air strikes were carried out initially on shipping in the Chittagong and Coxs Bazar harbors, sinking or incapacitating most ships there. Further strikes were carried out on Coxs Bazar from 60 nautical miles (110 km) offshore. On the evening of 4 December, the air group struck Chittagong Harbour. Later strikes targeted Khulna and the Port of Mongla. Air strikes continued until 10 December 1971.

The first attempted use of anti-ship missiles against a carrier battle group was part of Argentinas efforts against British Armed Forces during the Falklands War. This was the last conflict so far in which opposing belligerents employed aircraft carriers, although Argentina made little use of its sole carrier, originally built in the United Kingdom.

The United States Sixth Fleet assembled a force of three carrier battle groups and a battleship during the Lebanese Civil War in 1983. Daily reconnaissance flights were flown over the Bekaa Valley and a strike was flown against targets in the area resulting in loss of an A-6 Intruder and an A-7 Corsair.

Carrier battle groups routinely operated in the Gulf of Sidra inside the "Line of Death" proclaimed by Libya resulting in aerial engagements in 1981, 1986 and 1989 between U.S. Navy Tomcats and Libyan Su-22 aircraft, SA-5 surface-to-air missiles and MiG-23 fighters. During the 1986 clashes, three carrier battle groups deployed to the Gulf of Sidra and ultimately two of them conducted strikes against Libya in Operation El Dorado Canyon.

During the international military intervention in the 2011 Libyan civil war, the French Navy deployed its aircraft carrier, Charles de Gaulle, off Libya. The Charles de Gaulle was accompanied by several frigates as Forbin, Dupleix, Aconit, the replenishment tanker Meuse and two Rubis-class nuclear attack submarines.

In modern United States Navy carrier air operations, the moniker of carrier strike group (CSG) has replaced the traditional term of carrier battle group (CVBG or CARBATGRU).[when?] The US Navy maintains 11 carrier strike groups,[timeframe?] 9 of which are based in the United States and one that is forward deployed in Japan. CSG or CVBG normally consist of 1 aircraft carrier, 1 guided missile cruiser (for air defense), 2 LAMPS (light airborne multi-purpose system) capable warships (focusing on anti-submarine and surface warfare), and 1–2 anti-submarine destroyers or frigates. The large number of CSGs used by the United States reflects, in part, a division of roles and missions allotted during the Cold War, in which the United States assumed primary responsibility for blue-water operations and for safeguarding supply lines between the United States and Europe, while the NATO allies assumed responsibility for brown- and green-water operations.

An Expeditionary Strike Group is composed of an amphibious assault ship (LHA/LHD), a dock landing ship (LSD), an amphibious transport dock (LPD), a Marine expeditionary unit, AV-8B Harrier II aircraft, CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters, and CH-46E Sea Knight helicopters or, more recently, MV-22B tiltrotors. Cruisers, destroyers and attack submarines are deployed with either an Expeditionary Strike Group or a Carrier Strike Group.

During the period when the American navy recommissioned all four of its Iowa-class battleships, it sometimes used a similar formation centered on a battleship, referred to as a battleship battle group (BBBG). It was alternately referred to as a Surface Action Group (SAG).

The battleship battle group typically consisted of one modernized battleship, one Ticonderoga-class cruiser, one Kidd-class destroyer or Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, one Spruance-class destroyer, three Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates and one support ship, such as a fleet oiler.[not specific enough to verify]

A Surface Action Group (SAG) is "a temporary or standing organization of combatant ships, other than carriers, tailored for a specific tactical mission".

China plans to set up several carrier battle groups in the future. At present Chinas only aircraft carrier, the CNS Liaoning, uses Type 052C or Type 052D destroyers for air defense, Type 054A frigates for anti-submarine and anti-ship warfare, 1–2 Type 093 Shang nuclear submarines, and 1 Type 901 supply ship. China launched its second carrier in April 2017. It will enter service by 2020. China is also building a new larger type of air defense destroyers, the Type 055.

The only serving French carrier is the Charles de Gaulle, which also serves as the flagship of the Marine Nationale. The Carrier Battle Group (Groupe Aéronaval, GAN, in French) of the Force dAction Navale is usually composed, in addition to the aircraft carrier, of:

This group is commanded by a rear admiral (contre-amiral, in French) on board the aircraft carrier. The commanding officer of the air group (usually a capitaine de frégate—equivalent to commander) is subordinate to the commanding officer of the aircraft carrier, a senior captain. The escort destroyers (called frigates in the French denomination) are commanded by more junior captains.

France also operates three Mistral-class amphibious assault ships. While incapable of operating fixed-winged aircraft, they function as helicopter carriers and form the backbone of Frances amphibious force. These ships are typically escorted by the same escorts the Charles De Gaulle uses.

The Indian Navy has been operating carrier battle groups since 1961, with its first carrier battle group formed around the now decommissioned INS Vikrant. As of 2017, the Indian Navy operates one carrier battle group centered on INS Vikramaditya. INS Viraat was an updated Centaur-class light carrier originally built for the Royal Navy as HMS Hermes, which was laid down in 1944 and commissioned in 1959. It was purchased by India in May 1987, and was decommissioned in March 2017. India commissioned INS Vikramaditya in 2013 and will follow this with a second carrier, the new INS Vikrant in 2020. INS Vikramaditya is the modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, INS Vikrant will be the first indigenous Indian aircraft carrier. India plans to have three carrier battle groups by 2025, each centered on Vikrant, Vikramaditya and Vishal, the second, larger and is expected to be nuclear-powered Vikrant-class carrier.

The Indian Navys carrier battle group centered on Viraat consists of two destroyers, usually of the Delhi class (previously Rajputs were used), two or more frigates, usually of the Brahmaputra, Godavari or Nilgiri classes, and one support ship.

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