German skepticism about carriers partly reflected their lack of armor and the hazards created by aviation fuel. A battleship that catches an isolated carrier at gun range can indeed destroy it quickly, but that scenario ignores how carriers are actually employed. Britain would have to prepare Cape Matapan-scale task groups, with capital ships and destroyer screens, to meet each possible German sortie. Anti-submarine protection would add still more escorts because the loss of Royal Oak at Scapa Flow had already demonstrated the danger.
Notable Point · 23:36-25:12
Carrier vulnerability makes escorts indispensable
A carrier caught alone by a battleship is highly vulnerable, but real carrier operations place it inside a protected task group that multiplies the enemy's response burden.