Re: How current is this?
An aircraft carrier is (to admirals and politicians) a big, floating codpiece.
As were dreadnauts (in their time). And WW1[1] conclusively proved that putting all your Naval budget into one big showpiece ship is a very, very bad idea. It also doesn't help when you skimp on the features of the ships for cost reasons and don't have the procedures to actually use them in battle in an effective and safe manner. Leaving ammunition hoist baffles open to speed up the gunnery is a pretty bad thing to do - a number of British ships were lost at Jutland after hits to the turrents caused a flashover into the magasines.
[1] And to an extent WW2. The Germans had a plan for building up their navy that went into the late 1940's. Unfortunately for them, Hitler started the war in 1939, long before their pocket battleships had the required support ships. So their big ships (with a few exceptions) spent more time hiding in port, hoping that the RN/RAF wouldn't find them.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
