The carrier as a mobile aerodrome and support system

A carrier is a mobile aerodrome as much as a warship. It combines command facilities, workshops, stores, fuel, weapons, and specialist personnel inside a moving hull. Those facilities keep aircraft maintained, rearmed, and refueled near the action. The Royal Navy invested money, time, and engineering effort in this system during the First World War while meeting air-defence duties and supporting operations at Gallipoli, in the Middle East, on the Western Front, and in aid of Russia. A land aerodrome can provide the same types of support, but it cannot move with the fleet.