FOR DECADES the mighty aircraft-carrier has ruled the waves. In 1986 it burst into pop culture in the film “Top Gun”, a celebration of cocksure naval aviators. Yet because of increasingly lethal anti-ship missiles, many think its days are numbered. “The thing will be dead in the water in 20 years, for sure,” declared Mark Milley, America’s chairman of the joint chiefs of staff from 2019-23. “It’s a big piece of steel that—sorry—saw its best day at Midway.”