On the oceans that cover two-thirds of the planet and provide the broadest of all roads to war, the aircraft carrier is a leviathan, fearsome beyond compare. A modern carrier stretches more than a thousand feet from bow to stern and holds within its vastness as many as eighty-five aircraft, virtually all of them capable of a ferocious sting. Nor does the floating airfield travel alone. Arrayed around it is a guard of about ten other ships, forming an integrated battle group spread over some 30,000 square miles of sea. Aloft, planes with powerful radar keep watch on three million cubic miles of the surrounding sky. More than any other military fliers, Navy pilots routinely work close to the edge of human capability.