I am reluctant to start another page on this thread (after all, one of the reasons I started this thread was because the Sea Jet thread was getting very long) but the 25th anniversary of victory in the Falklands seems like a good reason to post.
Victory in the South Atlantic would have been impossible without
Hermes and
Invincible. Without organic air defence the task force would have been cut to pieces by Argentine airpower. Gaps in our defences (lack of organic AEW for instance cost ships and lives). Today we have organic AEW (and much else). Unfortunately we now lack organic air defence (as discussed at great length
here). The lesson is that a carrier will need to have both defensive and offensive capabilities to be survivable.
Another significant lesson is that of deterrence. Galtieri invaded the Falklands because he though he could get away it, no doubt encouraged by the 1981 Nott review which proposed getting rid of the carriers, and amphibious forces, and much else. It was thought the UK would be both unwilling and unable to fight. Without the encouragement of Nott's intended cuts the invasion may never have taken place.
We owe it to those who fought 25 years ago to learn these lessons, and not to fall into the trap of only expecting the expected.