[hchutch]

Personally, I'd have the F/A-18E/F replace the F/A-18C/Ds, and go with 24 Tomcats per carrier.

Use the Tomcats for some of the air-superiority stuff, and all-weather attack, while the F/A-18s can also do both. The A-6 was a good plane, but with carriers likely to be the "first responders" to a crisis situation, and since wars are decided by who controls the air, I'd go with two-seat F/A-18Fs, and give the F-14s all-weather strike capability to fill the gap for the most part.

[wjcsux]

Air superiority belongs to the F-14 equipped with AIM-54C's. Nothing else, with the exception of the YF-22, comes close! The A-6 is a much superior all weather close ground support aircraft than almost anything else that has been built. The F-15E Strike Eagle is probably the only one that is better. There is nothing wrong with the F/A-18 except for being slow, minimal capability to carry arnament, too heavy, and minimal unrefueled range. Other than that, it is an excellent combat aircraft.
The big joke in NAVAIR circles is that you have a choice of carrying fuel or arnament with a Hornet, you can't carry both!