Red Storm Rising's decoy attack was plausible but simplified

Is the Soviet decoy attack on a US carrier in Red Storm Rising plausible?

Yes as a deception concept, though a real carrier group would likely retain fighters in reserve and employ stronger jamming and ship defenses.

The Soviet bomber and decoy attack in Red Storm Rising is disturbingly plausible. Deception works by presenting the pattern for which defenders have trained and then exploiting their commitment to it. A real carrier force would likely retain some F-14s or other aircraft as a reserve rather than deploy the entire combat air patrol at once. Shipboard air defences and electronic jamming might also defeat more incoming missiles than the novel allows.