Naval aviation's improved strike reach gave fleets an ability to influence land campaigns that surface gunfire alone could not match. Once likely enemies lacked battleships and battlecruisers, ship-to-ship heavy-gun combat ceased to define the main requirement. Amphibious support, operations near defended coasts, and action against enemy air forces instead rewarded mobile air power. The platform choice therefore followed a changing strategic mission as well as technical progress in aircraft.
Notable Point · 55:21-56:16
Why postwar missions favoured aircraft carriers
Carriers suited a postwar world where navies more often influenced events ashore than fought enemy battle lines.