Royal Navy carriers may be the only examples to have exchanged fire with enemy heavy cruisers and conducted shore bombardment with their own guns. Those actions were exceptions to the normal carrier task of launching air strikes. The escort carriers of Taffy 3 survived by running and launching aircraft while destroyers carried the close fight. A carrier can therefore have exceptional gun actions in its service history without surface combat becoming its proper design role.
Notable Point · 46:20-48:40
Royal Navy carriers sometimes fought with their own guns
British carriers entered unusual surface and bombardment actions that went beyond launching aircraft.