navweaps . com reference often , it ' s pretty good and has a lot of good articles in the tech section . The goto site for naval discussion online as it ' s widely considered a viable ' Source ' reference . Jane ' s Jane ' s has published from coffeetable to scholarlylevel books on whatever warship subject you are interested in at the time . Can ' t emphasize enough the ' Sources ' on wikipedia . That ' s where everyone gets the ' consensus ' opinions about warships , including carriers . There are certain opinions which can be discussed , i . e . When did Aircraft Carriers supplant Battleships as the premier naval weapon ? You get several choices Mitchell ' s tests in the 20 s . Taranto . Force Z . Pearl Harbor . Coral Sea . Midway . Ok , why do longtime Naval History buffs make a case for each of those ? You are going to find out in the sources . You cannot find out from Wikipedia text , thankfully , it ' s still a reference . But , their sources will tell you , and you will see certain names crop up again and again Friedman , Garzke and Dulin , Preston , Jane ' s , etc . I am midlevel amateur Naval History knowledge , and I can make a case for each of the opinions I cited above . But , when you get here , you get a lot of info from online discussions from people who have read dozens of books on that subject and know conversations between key players in the history . now it ' s pretty fun . So you have a lot to look forward to , it ' s a lifetime of knowledge no doubt . Have fun .