How does one do a quote with "originally posted by....." appearing in the box? Genuine question.
WEBF
Perhaps you should do a little research into what happened to the RN's Carriers in the first few months of WW2!!!
I assume that you are talking about the loss of
Couragous, lost whilst on anti U Boat operations where her aircraft where performing a visual sweep. Technology such as ASV radar, or other things that were later carried did not exist. She (standing by for correction) was launching aircraft, and had to leave her escorts. I think you are also talking about of loss of
Glorious during the Norwegian campaign, a tragedy that is mentioned in sea survival discussions. She was destroyed by gunfire from the two German Battle cruisers. At the time she had no aircraft in the air, which would have spotted two large German units.
Since the RAF had largely run carrier aviation prior to WW2, there were no ex aviators in senior positions, and no voice for the FAA at Admiralty level. The skills and experience to use aircraft effectively did not exist, and had to be built during the war (a lesson from history that we should not ignore). Later on, technologies and experience levels did improve, and the escort carriers performed valuable work and were key in many convoy battles, both against U Boats and long range bombers/reece aircraft.
The point about the value of naval helicopters in current operations stands, as does the point about the odd procurement system that gives us destroyers with large (Chinook size) flight decks but relatively small hangars, and LPDs with even larger flight decks but no hangar.