The Nimitz class carriers have a draft of 11.3m and can navigate the Suez Canal, the Gerald R. Ford class carriers have a draft of 12m so I assume they could too.
The Suez Canal has a minimum depth of 12m at low tide.
The fact that carriers can navigate the Suez canal does not mean they can do anything else while they're doing it. A carrier in the Suez canal will be moving very slowly and all other operations besides navigating the ship and keeping its power and engines running will be shut down.
Carriers operate in deep water. The only times they are in shallow water are coming into or leaving port, or transiting a canal like the Suez in order to get somewhere.
> It may not be carrying out battle manoeuvres in the canal, but it also isn’t immune to threat while it’s there.
The threat in such a place would not be an underwater explosion a couple of miles away, or a shock wave similar to that caused by such an explosion. It would be bombs or missiles targeted directly at the carrier. Which is not the kind of threat the test in the article under discussion was testing for.
> I don’t see much reason why it couldn’t operate CWIS or launch missiles or aircraft while it’s there if necessary.
Operate CWIS, yes, in the unlikely event that it had to.
I don't think carriers carry missile launchers of their own.
Launch aircraft, not unless they're helicopters or VTOL aircraft; see my response to Retric downthread. Even that kind of launch would be dicey while transiting a canal, since the carrier still needs some room to maneuver for such launches.
As to why you wouldn’t launch aircraft, surface winds while unable to reorient the ship are a problem. Now, they could probably launch an aircraft which is going to land somewhere else, again depending on wind conditions.
Also, shallow waters means something specific, the surface waves are affected by the sea floor. The US Navy actively avoids those conditions for a host of reasons.
> they could probably launch an aircraft which is going to land somewhere else
They couldn't launch anything that wasn't a helicopter or a VTOL aircraft. Carriers need upwards of 30 knots of wind over the deck, in the right direction (blowing from the front) to launch ordinary planes. You won't get that transiting a canal. Carriers do it by going to full speed in the open sea.
The Suez Canal has a minimum depth of 12m at low tide.
USS Nimitz navigating Suez: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_HOjxu8nB8