Aircraft first gave admirals a wider reconnaissance horizon, but long-range flying alone could not solve navigation, maintenance, refueling, or rearming. The carrier brought the airfield and its logistics close enough to the fleet to sustain repeated operations. It also supplied command spaces and accommodation for the people who made an air wing effective. That support function helps explain why vulnerability alone does not make the carrier obsolete.
Chapter · 14:22-37:46
Why navies turned reconnaissance aircraft into mobile air power
The opening traces naval aviation from reconnaissance experiments to the carrier as a mobile base for command, maintenance, fuel, and weapons.