The carrier as a reloadable air-defence and strike hub

Carrier fighters supplied a renewable outer layer of air defence, while strike aircraft extended the task group's offensive reach. Earlier ship-launched missile systems could sometimes be reloaded at sea, although the procedure was complicated and magazine capacity remained limited. Modern vertical-launch cells are harder to replenish safely during operations because their weapons are complex and vulnerable to mishandling. Aviation fuel, missiles, and bombs can be packaged for replenishment to a carrier and then distributed through repeated aircraft sorties. Escorts protected the carrier in depth, but that reloadable air wing made the combined formation more sustainable than a force relying only on finite ship-launched cells.