Aircraft radius needs to be combined with the distance a carrier can travel between launch positions. Even an interwar carrier could strike one area, move at speed, and launch against another target hundreds of miles away within the same day. Faster modern carriers and longer-ranged aircraft expand the dilemma dramatically, potentially threatening targets spread across thousands of nautical miles. A carrier's reach is not a static circle drawn around one known position.
Notable Point · 1:42:27-1:44:04
Carrier mobility multiplies aircraft strike range
A moving carrier can attack widely separated targets in succession, making the ship's own movement part of the air group's effective reach.