[autoexecbat]

That's just lack of political will to engage and collateral effects on non-combatants.

The carrier group could have stayed in position and inflicted enormous damage in retaliation, but no one wants nukes used

[walleeee]

A single well-placed rocket/missile/drone crater in the deck of a carrier, without sinking or even seriously wounding it, is enough to render it useless and put it out of comission for months if not longer. Keeping a carrier group in a place where this is even remotely likely is a huge risk from a naval strategy perspective.