To claim that an aircraft carrier is obselete, is accurate if you assume that the only war it's ever going to fight is a full-on push the button armageddon-type scenario, and if that's the case, you could also argue that you'd be just as well off with no submarines, aircraft carriers or anything else for that matter, since you'd be screwed whether you were in a submarine, or your cellar under your house.
Recent military conflicts have shown that this is quite clearly not the case, and I think it might be a bit tricky for a submarine to enforce a no-fly zone halfway across a land mass, whereas this is the kind of thing a carrier is suitable for. Yes a submarine could launch a UAV to do this, providing the sea was calm enough (possibly even one with weapons on board), but I'd like to see one coming in for a landing back on the thing! (and yes I do know the Japs had seaplane fighters that did this).
Chock