Yeah the Hornet was not a real replacement. It was a sacrifice to take on part of the A-6 job and part of the F-14 job, but excel at neither. A loaded down Intruder was an awesome display of firepower at 24K pounds of armament. F-18s early on, and maybe still, had to launch, refuel, do the mission, refuel, then fly to the ship to recover. And at one point they talked about F/A-18A/B/C/D/ tankers. What a joke!