the word here is "overwhelm it's defenses" which is very tough as it will be surrounded by its battle group and their defenses.
consider many appropriately missile -equipped submarines costing 20% the cost of the AC
and all its assets attacking the carrier ...... what would the defence of the carrier entail
the UK is about to build a "super-carrier" - intelligence sources can without too much difficulty,
estimate it's cost plus that of the assets fuel etc of
in preparing my defence against the UK ( soon to be england ) , i budget 20% into long-range nuke powered stealth submarines plus
an array of submarine -mounted hypersonic missiles ...
i think i'll win the cost-war and the actual war
and the cost of defending the carrier would be enormous wouldnt it ? .... a cost effective method ?
only if the carrier's objectives are well worth that enormous cost ......risk -reward ratio ? forget it i'd say,
it's an outmoded form of warfare , which many are maintaining past its use-bay date ..... we need to be more innovative
it's good only for policing ( bulllying ) relatively lower tech groups of nations ....eg PRC in south china sea . ......... if no other high-tech nations sends a fleet of those subs i mentioned