I personally favor a specialized carrier that maximizes hangar space and speed (enough speed to keep up with our escorts).
Holding such a large number of fighters (that are already armed) more than makes up for the lack of in-house rearmament supplies, but a dedicated auxiliary vessel would more than make up for that (and could probably double as a PD platform directly next to the carrier if its tonnage were increased).
I think the other carrier commanders would agree.
Agreed. Maybe make them take a bit more ammo.
They would always be escorted, so we might as well leave the PD task to dedicated ships.
The most important thing really is hangar space. The more fighters, the better. Lots of small, blazing fast fighters swarming the enemy... this is, in my view, what we should aim for.
The PD/ammo mixed ship seems like an interesting idea.
(And again, keep in mind that the "firepower" contained in carriers can be easily upgraded... building new fighters is easy, reffiting a ship, not so much).