<blockquote>Moreover, governments find a way to use aircraft carriers that doesn’t involve high intensity combat against peer opponents. However expensive they may be, U.S. carriers have proven infinitely more fungible than the array of missile boats, short range submarines, and advanced missiles that the PLA has deployed to counter them.  A U.S. carrier can show the flag <a href="http://thediplomat.com/2012/07/24/irans-strategy-in-the-strait-of-hormuz/">outside the Strait of Hormuz</a>, support relief operations in Haiti, or kinetic military operations in Libya, while an armada of DF-21D ASBMs can do little but sit and wait.</blockquote>
via <a href="http://thediplomat.com/flashpoints-blog/2012/09/18/why-aircraft-carriers-sail-on/">Why Aircraft Carriers Sail On | Flashpoints</a>.