Operations against Japanese facilities in Southeast Asia brought British carriers into close cooperation with a battle group that could also conduct shore bombardment. The force evolved from Illustrious and Saratoga through combinations of British fleet and escort carriers. This was a high point because the Royal Navy could employ its carrier doctrine with fewer allied constraints, though it never received the decisive fleet battle some officers desired. The joking toast that Trafalgar had been a good start captures the institutional appetite behind that desire. Formidable's machinery repair also shows how engineering limits continued to shape which carriers could join the force.
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Eastern Fleet carrier doctrine in 1944
The 1944 Eastern Fleet raids finally assembled multiple carriers and a bombardment-capable battle group as pre-war doctrine envisioned.