New Zealand illustrates the population needed to sustain a carrier group

A carrier programme needs enough people to build, crew, and sustain both the ship and its battle group. New Zealand's effectiveness at sea in the Second World War did not give it the population required to operate such a force independently. The projected Malta-class HMS New Zealand might have served in the Pacific with a substantial New Zealand contingent while remaining a Royal Navy ship. That expectation follows the earlier battlecruiser's example and remains a counterfactual because the carrier was never completed.