Question to those that might be still carrier current
If several aircraft have taken off from the deck of a carrier, have you ever heard of them not being able to land back on deck because of bad weather and then had to ditch in the sea? We hear all these comments about bad weather restricting flying and those that make them try to pretend it only effects aircraft carriers and a concrete airfield is immune from the effects of mother nature.
I served on what was the smallest aircraft carrier we operated and I think it fair to say it was far more prone to uppy, downy movement than your much bigger carriers so yes there were days when flying was cancelled, but we NEVER, ever lost several aircraft that had flown off to carry out a mission and could not be recovered. If we knew the weather was too bad for flying and a hundred miles to the West was more suitable then that is where we would move to.
The carrier has mobility and can move away from local storms, plus the enemy be they shore based aircraft or sea based will also have the same problems and have to cope with these unfavourable conditions. The STOVL aircraft may well be able to operate in rougher sea conditions but let us not forget the calmest place on any big ship is the stern where on our carrier we locate the arrester gear (not because its the calmest location). Landing an aircraft on the deck of a carrier has never been a walk in the park, landing in rough weather is what sorts the men from the boys, landing in rough weather at night is what makes these pilots men of EXCEPTIONAL ability. Hopefully the F-35C will have aids that might make that task slightly easier but I just know it will never be a walk in the park!.
I still need convincing that the 'B' is a superior aircraft to the 'C' and as much as I would love to see the F-18 being seen as a consideration, it still must surely come back to ownership and would the RAF welcome the F-18 with open arms. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the F-35C is overcoming all its problems and all this talk about the 'B' is just media hype? a
Apologies for all my witterings
John