I recently had a piece on the Navy’s Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) installed on the USS GERALD R. FORD (CVN-78) published on the Defense News website. The system uses electromotive force instead of steam to launch carrier-based aircraft. I recommend you give it a read, rather than repeating everything here. But the bottom line is if we expect aircraft carriers to be relevant in 2050 and beyond ( CVN-78 will still be in service in 2070) then the Navy must invest in this type of technology. Steam got us through the 19th and 20th Century, but it’s not going to get us to the 22nd Century.
Here’s the link to Defense News.