Carrier flexibility beyond fleet battle

Carrier aircraft could conduct overflights and support anti-submarine operations in peacetime as well as war. Their reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering capacity let a fleet search or monitor wide areas of ocean beyond the horizon of its ships. Because the carrier could move across much of the world's surface, its air group could appear from directions that fixed land bases could not match. The ship also carried the maintenance, fuel, command, and support infrastructure needed for more than a brief staging stop. Backed by maintenance carriers such as HMS Unicorn, Pioneer, and Perseus, naval aviation could sustain operations for weeks or months rather than make a single dash-and-return strike.