Originally Posted by Red Line Entry
Obi,
You've peaked my interest - so in a warfighting sense (as opposed to a floating cocktail party sense), what contribution to the battle does an 'integrated weapons system' carrier make that an airfield does not? Happy to show my ignorance, but to me a carrier is exactly the same as a 'floating airfield'.
And there you have it, gentlemen. A non-naval specialist who regards a warship as no more than a 'floating airfield' (or floating gun battery, floating missile battery, floating ASW system, floating radar station, floating intelligence gatherer, floating barracks, floating aid convoy, etc.) instead of the sum of its parts.
Like a ship/task group's guns, missiles, torpedoes, radar, sonar, EW suite and other weapons and sensors, an embarked air group is an integral part of a mobile weapons system, all inextricably interlinked. It requires the inputs, awareness, knowledge and training of everyone on board from the CO to the most junior logistician or stoker for its effective operation and safety. After all, they are literally 'all in the same boat(s)'.
The case for the prosecution rests.