Henderson and Goodall designed for global logistics

The ship could carry replacements, rebuild damaged aircraft, recover airframes by self-propelled lighter, and strip unusable machines for parts. Those capabilities carried Henderson and Goodall's fleet-multiplier logic into aviation sustainment. Britain expected to fight far from its industrial center, unlike an American advance supported by captured island bases or a Japanese strategy drawing an opponent toward the home islands. Unicorn therefore complemented mobile naval base units by moving aviation industry forward with the fleet. In practice, she carried part of Britain's aviation industry wherever the fleet needed it.