Originally Posted by
Heathrow Harry
"Of course land bases are available in a few hours even if bombed to hell. "
It takes a lot more effort to render a land base unusable for any length of time than it takes to damage or sink a carrier
Is this based on evidence or just your opinion?
Destroying runways is hard - I have heard than one of the lessons of the Falklands Conflict was that specialist weapons were needed to destroy runways (hence the development of JP233 as used by the RAF in 1991), however structures such as hangars with aircraft inside are easily targeted, as are aircraft in the open, radar facilities, and so on. Recent conflicts how the difficulty of protecting the perimeter of bases from determined attack. An airfield cannot move, and cannot do much to stop everyone knowing it is there.
A carrier can use EMCON and other procedures to keep her exact position hidden. Method exists to counter hostile radars/sonars (the QEC design is quieter than previous carriers). The carrier will operate as part of a task group and/or joint force with a full range of capabilities. I could go on, but to what end? If someone said "no need to worry about that as long as the Earth is round" you would reply "what it was discovered it was not?"