Navaleye,
YOUR preference?????????????
Who are you, the Second Sea Lord?
Unless your referring to theoretical war gaming you may have noticed that there isn't actually a real air threat to surface forces these days.
This is the reason that the USN is ditching the F-14 and it's long range Phoenix capability and the S-3 with it's ASW capability for an increased strike force.
Embarked Maritime air has one role these days, and that is power projection inland. We do not face a sophisticated conventional military threat, the threat is now much more difficult to counter.
Gone are the days of fleet actions between major Surface Action groups and fighting convoys across the Atlantic.
The forces are being restructured to face suicide bombers, car bombers, dirty improvised explosive devices and the like.
This is going to be the pattern of military Ops for the next decade at least, there is NO point retaining a structured fielded force that has no relevant threat to face any more.
Jees...............