The US Navy argued that forward land-based strategic bombers required an expensive network of bases and continuing merchant supply. A carrier could move that striking power between theaters and complicate an enemy's targeting problem. Construction of USS United States stopped almost immediately after it began, turning the policy reversal into a direct financial loss as well as a strategic decision. Although the carrier lost the immediate interservice contest, naval aircraft retained a nuclear role. Missiles and nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines soon restored a central Navy role in nuclear deterrence.
Notable Point · 57:12-58:41
Mobile seaborne nuclear strike and USS United States
A mobile carrier-based bomber force promised strategic reach without the worldwide fixed bases and supply convoys demanded by land-based aviation.