May 3, 2025: This is a short article to explain a simple solution to a big problem. In the Pacific the U.S. Navy and its ten aircraft carriers face the growing Chinese navy. The Russian naval threat, as least the ones requiring carrier aviation, have diminished to near zero. Any Russian threats that do show up can be handled by land-based aircraft and ground forces supplied largely by local NATO nations.

To deal with China, send all ten American carriers and their escorts to the Pacific. This is important because modern aircraft carriers are too large to use the Panama Canal. All the carriers have to be in the Pacific at once to achieve peak effectiveness against Chinese forces.

Each U.S. carrier carries up to 90 aircraft including several dozen F-18E fighter bombers, which are being replaced with the new F-35C. In addition there are some surveillance aircraft, helicopters and a growing number of drones. China currently has one small carrier that carries nothing but drones.

Another advantage of all the carriers in the Pacific is the availability of U.S. and allied shipyards that can maintain such a large force of ships. Japan, South Korea and Vietnam are all willing to lend the services of their ports and shipyards to assist the American carrier fleet and their escorts. China is a threat to all three of these countries. Together, along with the U.S. carrier fleet, this coalition causes China to reconsider any offensive plans in the Pacific. The coalition makes success unlikely.

And there you have it. Ten carriers in the Pacific restrains Chinese naval ambitions.