Why carriers became fleet command nodes

Integrating ships, radios, staffs, and human command structures was harder than building a better aircraft or carrier alone. Rutland's report was supposed to move from Engadine to Napier, then to Beatty and Jellicoe, creating several opportunities for delay or failure. Because aerial information entered the fleet through the carrier, placing an admiral and staff there shortened the path between reconnaissance and operational decision-making. British, American, and Japanese practice gradually reflected that logic in the interwar years. The carrier became an information and command node as well as a platform for launching aircraft.