Anti-ship duties of carrier aircraft in the 70s?

Forgive me if this is in the wrong forum, but…

From my understanding, the primary carrier-borne anti-shipping duties of the USN was in the form of harpoons off of FA-18Cs during the 80s and 90s. This is to be presumably carried on by FA-18Es and F-35s of the next generation.

But what about the previous generation? During the time of the ol’ F-4 phantom in USN service? What plane was tasked with anti-ship warfare off the carriers? And was it still practical to, say, use maverick AtG missiles or iron bombs off an A-7 or A-6 against enemy surface combatants?

And for that matter, how was anti-ship combat carried out by the earlier generations, right after the old methods of torpedo/dive bombing was outclassed?

And a related question: is it viable to use guided precision bombs in the anti-ship role against a modern armed naval ship (Using the Kirov class battlecruiser as an example)?