When a carrier was supporting an invasion it wasn't the carrier's escorts that were rushing in to blast the hell out of the target, so why should it be any different here?
Because this isn't a naval game, it's an air game with some ships thrown in for variety.
Any attempt at even remotely realistic rules/sim for the ships in this game would be doomed. The main reason is the time frame: no one is going to want to take four hours or more to embark and land troops, or half a day for surface fleets to maneuver to within sight of each other, or an hour or two to form up a strike and hit an enemy CV 100+ miles away. Not to mention hours or even days of bombardment and airstrikes before landing troops. The numbers are also way off, you'd need dozens of pilots to simulate a proper attack on a CV group.
IMHO the CVs should have to stay a bit further out than they do now, but because it would improve game play, not because it's more realistic. The biggest problem currently is the ability to have puffy ack over the enemy airfield, that should never be allowed. Puffy ack should also be less effective against maneuvering fighters and more effective against bombers flying straight and level.