Can seaplanes fill the gaps left by vanished carriers?

If seaplanes and seaplane tenders survive the disappearance of carriers, can they preserve the fleet's aviation functions?

Surviving aircraft cannot restore erased doctrine, while their reconnaissance work had supported the primary carrier capability.

The objection distinguishes the loss of carriers from the survival of seaplanes, tenders, and catapult aircraft. The reply returns to the premise that knowledge of why carriers were built has also been erased. Gunnery spotting is suggested as a surviving purpose, then questioned because it too is a form of aerial reconnaissance. British and American carrier reconnaissance is described as a primary fleet function, with cruiser and capital-ship aircraft supporting it. The Japanese reconnaissance cruiser-carriers create another uncertainty because the scenario does not settle whether those ships also disappear.