Drone carriers, range, and flight-deck size

Should a drone carrier resemble a normal carrier or use many smaller platforms?

It depends on the drone mission: short-range single-purpose systems can be small, but long-range multi-role aircraft require a full-size carrier.

The answer links carrier size to the mission imposed on the aircraft rather than to the absence of a pilot. Short-range drones designed for a single task can remain small and operate from numerous modest platforms. Range requires fuel, while multiple sensors, weapons, and recovery systems add still more size and weight. An aircraft expected to strike a target a thousand nautical miles away will therefore cease to be a tiny deck-launched machine. Once the drone approaches the dimensions and operating needs of a conventional naval aircraft, a full-size flight deck becomes useful again. Uncrewed aviation changes who is aboard the aircraft, but it does not repeal the physical relationship between payload, endurance, and launch platform.