Iranian drone carrier survivability lesson

After Iran's drone carrier was effectively written off, will future drone carriers avoid merchant conversions?

Further conversions are expected. The panel discusses better conversion work and task-group support, but one contributor doubts that even much stronger protection would have saved this particular target.

Merchant conversions are still expected to appear, with task-group support and the quality of the conversion offered as lessons from the Iranian example. One explanation stresses the vulnerability of operating alone. Another contributor argues that even protection approaching a reinforced carrier battle group would not necessarily have saved this particular ship because US forces would regard it as a valuable target. The exchange therefore supports several concerns about survivability without establishing that escorts alone would have prevented the loss.