Landlubber alert:
When US carriers are on patrol, the USN sees fit to provide an extensive array of escorts: anti-air, anti-surface, etc etc.
Presumably the QEC carriers, major capital ships that they are, will attract all kinds of attention from explosive-loaded suicide RIBs to sophisticated air, surface and sub-surface threats and, assuming the job is to be done properly, will require similar protection to the USN carriers. Given the size of the surface fleet, I further assume it will be impossible to provide a comprehensive level of escort to a carrier on patrol and still fulfill all other obligations. So what will give - will the vulnerable and hugely expensive ships be put in harm's way without adequate protection - a sort of modern version of the Repulse and PoW - or will other priorities be binned? I assume, based on its slash and burn track record, that this government will never permit the sufficient expansion of the fleet to allow both roles to be performed properly.
Final thought, what defensive armament will the QEC's have?