Quote Originally Posted by Curt Harms View Post
but I was told that during the '70's attempted Iranian hostage rescue operation the Navy had to use P3's to shoo the little boats out of the Enterprise' way. There were no destroyers etc. fast enough for the job. The guy telling me this was a crewmember on the P3. He also said the wake endangered small craft a good distance away.
It is true that there are no cruisers, destroyers or frigates which can keep up with a nuke aircraft carrier. Not only do they have crazy amounts of power, but they have a significant advantage in length to width ratio. This is a property of fluid flow mechanics where the greater the difference in length to width, the easier it is to move through the water. So, in this area, an aircraft carrier is similar to a canoe.