In a war with China our carriers will mostly be kept far away.

Expect our carriers to hang out in the Indian ocean and South of the Philippines interdicting shipping. Also expect them to be sailing west of Hawaii.

The carriers are too valuable to risk against a well prepared, unreduced China anywhere within a thousand miles of her coast.

But one day during the war, at the most opportune moment the carrier groups will arrive in the South China Sea. And on that day their planes and missiles will strike at a thousand targets.

A carrier is a lot to risk, and delivers a powerful blow. Much like a hard right hook to a boxer. It's a punch that opens you up to danger, but that can also end the fight. A boxer doesn't start out with hard right hooks. He nabs and jukes, wears his opponent down, gets to know him, and when the time is right he risks that right hook.