Caspar John on what an aircraft carrier contains

Caspar John's career covered naval flying, ship command, and senior administration before he became Admiral of the Fleet. In a January 1953 address, he described British naval aircraft as about five years behind the times and argued that Britain had to consider which tasks only aviation operating at sea could perform. His carrier analogy began with a shore air station operating sixty to eighty aircraft, together with its fuel, stores, and firefighting equipment. He added heavy anti-aircraft guns, a power station, radio facilities, and the radar and communications equipment of a fighter-control organization. About two thousand people needed accommodation and three months of provisions. All of this had to fit inside a self-propelled metal box about 800 feet long, 90 feet wide, and 90 feet high, with aircraft operating from its roof. The comparison explains how much support equipment and endurance a carrier must carry alongside its aircraft.