The Helpful Stacker
You are correct when you say that aircraft carriers may be relatively slow to move away from some modern weapon threats but at least (unlike land based airfields) they are actually capable of being moved wherever they are needed, or when necessary, even out of harm’s way until the rapid flexible world-wide RAF support can arrive to help protect and support them! (If that is actually true?)
Land based airfields are also extremely vulnerable and modern weapons technology can easily prevent aircraft from operating from them too! If our relatively few UK (or overseas airfields) runways get quickly taken out by anyone, then what other UK resources could be used to help defend our nation? Long range land based anti-air missiles? (Do we have any now??) Radar equipped VSTOL aircraft such as the Sea Harrier or the Italian/Spanish Navy versions of the Harriers? (No, we do not have any of them either!)
You are also right when you say that we are not getting enough T45’s, to help provide very good long range radar and anti-aircraft missile defense for the UK and our other current/future maritime commitments. Unfortunately just six of them have been ordered to replace the few remaining (over 25 years old) Type 42 destroyers! We once had at least 11 Type 42s, plus 3 carriers capable of operating radar equipped Sea Harriers to help attack incoming aircraft 'before' they could launch their anti-ship missiles at us. Likewise we once had plenty of subs to help defend our ships from the extremely dangerous submarine threats, but now we have very few of them in service and few new ones on order! It is no wonder that the Head of the RN is threatening to resign!! (What a vulnerable and sad state our RN is in!)
Finally you mentioned that experiencing a rocket attack in Iraq wasn't much fun but at least you had the comfort of the airbase being very large and highly unlikely to sink beneath you. I only wish that some of the big decision makers in this country could imagine what it must be like for RN and Merchant Navy personnel to be exposed to such threats with so little meaningful long range air defense/anti-submarine capability.