"Zerg swarms" of smaller, less expensive, easily replaceable ships have trounced our carrier battle groups in at least one high-profile war game we conducted a few years ago. At the time, I think we assumed these were little more than manned, modestly weaponized, high-speed cigarette boats.

It's reasonable to speculate that drone swarms will become a real thing, probably very soon. Will they replace aircraft carriers? Not for decades, unless we stumble into a war and get humiliated by an enemy swarm. (For what it's worth, I think we've become so arrogant that another military humiliation in our lifetimes is almost a certainty. But now I'm editorializing.)

But again, this seems so reasonable as to almost seem inevitable. When you no longer have to worry about feeding, accommodating, and protecting human sailors, it's pretty amazing how much smaller, faster, cheaper, and more performant your ships can get.