A saying I've heard from current/former sailors is, "Submarines are weapons, surface ships are targets". Surface ships, especially carriers, are very useful during peace time, but that during war time submarines can actually operate whereas surface ships must spend the majority of their time being evasive rather than offensive.

I've heard that actually hitting a carrier group at open sea is pretty tough with a cruise/ballistic missile, where are they? Where are they moving? Layered defenses etc. But what good is a bunch of ships steaming around hiding?