Carriers gain heavier defenses against surface attacks

Aircraft carriers would be especially attractive targets because a successful attack promises both operational disruption and prestige. A cruiser submarine could approach covertly, then use its guns if circumstances favored a surface action. That possibility changes the design problem for the protected ship as well as for its escorts. Carriers would have a stronger reason to carry heavy dual-purpose batteries able to answer a surfaced submarine before it completed a close-range attack.