You cannot conduct military operations in modern warfare without airfields which will allow you to at least establish temporary air supremacy.

To Dudley Pound (28 May 1941), BLAM 52567. Cdr J. Somerville to author, 4 March 1999. Quoted in Michael Simpson, A Life of Admiral of the Fleet Andrew Cunningham: A Twentieth Century Naval Leader (London: Routledge, 2004) ch. 7