The US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was targeted with four ballistic missiles on Sunday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp said in a statement reported by state media. The development comes amid joint strikes by the US and Israeli forces and retaliation by the Iranian side, in one of the biggest escalation in recent months, the effects of which have spilled across West Asia.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have warned that the “the land and sea will increasingly become the graveyard of the terrorist aggressors” as they declared to avenge the killing of the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.
“The US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln was struck by four ballistic missiles,” the Guards said in a statement, according to the local media.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) called Iran’s claim a lie. “The missiles launched didn’t even come close,” CENTCOM said in a post on X.
But is sinking a modern American aircraft carrier possible?
Strictly speaking, yes, but it is arguably one of the most difficult objects on Earth to sink.
The Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier is a 100,000-tonne fortress of steel designed with extreme “survivability” in mind. To send the warship to the bottom, an enemy would have to bypass layers of high-tech defenses and then overcome the ship’s massive physical resilience.
The American aircraft carrier travels as part of a Carrier Strike Group (CSG), which includes destroyer escorts and other naval vessels in the Middle East, news agency AFP reported quoting a US official.
Aegis Cruisers and Destroyers: These ships are packed with hundreds of interceptor missiles (like the SM-6) designed to shoot down incoming aircraft, cruise missiles, and even ballistic missiles.
The Air Wing: The carrier’s own F/A-18 Super Hornets and F-35Cs maintain a “combat air patrol” to intercept threats hundreds of miles away.
Built to Absorb Punches
The Lincoln is designed to take the “hard blow”, as per the reports.
Armor and Honeycombing: The hull is made of high-tensile steel with thousands of watertight compartments. The helps the ship to stay afloat even it several sections are flooded following a hit.
The Real Vulnerabilities
Despite its sheer size and construction that make it incredibly difficult to destroy, there are theoretical scenarios in which the carrier could be sunk. One possibility is a hit by torpedoes or anti-ship missiles by a stealthy enemy submarine.
While the US Navy may not have a threat from Iran, a report published by the National Security Journal points to a threat in this regard by Russia, which, it claims, possesses a sizeable fleet of highly stealthy deep-water submarines. This is however unlikely as the US Navy has a large number of anti-submarine warfare, like the P-8 Poseidon, sonar-equipped ships, and its own submarines to detect and track enemy subs.