Navaleye,
Top brass have always been the last place to go with any new idea, surely ?!
I don't see any need for ' a whole new class of warship ', just modification with the space-stabilised arm, and the ability for picket ships to deploy fighters doesn't seem inefficient to me; sad to say it would have been jolly handy in 1982, and in any war we should end up in.
Not least, the chaps wearing black hats might not bother a warship if they think it even may be carrying a fighter...I know the ship's helo will have to be able to go about it's business, so a close in ( less heeling moment ) stowage and maybe even ballast tank modifications may be required, but ' a whole new class ' sounds a bit like either someone desperately trying to get more ships, or more likely just trying to quash the idea.
As it is, I despair when I see modern RN warships with hull plating a good rifle could penetrate, and always only ONE of each weapon system; history has shown that if used in actual war not cocktail parties, warships for some strange reason take hits and near misses...