How to assess battleships sunk by aircraft

Do battleships sunk by aircraft prove that carriers simply replaced capital ships?

No. The losses need contextual analysis: land-based versus carrier aviation, ship age and condition, task-group support, and the tactical circumstances all affect the lesson.

A simple tally of ship losses cannot prove a broad claim about naval warfare. A battleship attacked by land-based aircraft presents a different case from one defeated by a carrier air group. Ship age, material condition, task-group support, and the tactical situation also change what the loss demonstrates. The useful historical question is how and why each ship was sunk, rather than whether its name can be placed in a single undifferentiated list.