The interwar system could often expand, but administrators repeatedly replaced it once growth exposed imperfections. Extending a functioning structure can sometimes preserve more useful continuity than serial redesign. A genuinely order-of-magnitude increase may justify a new organization, but many smaller changes are better handled by adapting what already works. The closing thought experiment uses Saratoga and Enterprise to show the opposite danger: if carrier, air group, and component squadrons all shared one number, a simple reference to 'six' might identify several different organizations. The example turns an abstract continuity debate into a practical command-and-control problem.
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Reorganization versus institutional continuity
Repeated replacement of workable systems sacrificed continuity, while carrier-linked numbering would have created its own serious communication problems.