Interesting idea, I just decided to make real carriers for RP purposes(hangar space, twin gauss for point defense, shields, double engines and extra fuel for parasites). First iteration had active sensors but I offloaded that to dedicated sensor ships and brought the weight of my second gen carriers down some. Current fleet=10 carriers with 3k hangar space(30 fighters, 15 FACs), 10 sensor ships, working on a missile destroyer design, will then add a flag ship once I've got better defensive tech(beefy defense, lowered signatures, spinal laser and laser turrets, single CIWS, probably troop capacity for marines and possibly some way of boarding with them, and enough engines to make it go fast, also maybe an escape pod/saucer section fighter/FAC stowed, flag bridge, engines, fuel and some armor to get my staff to nearest colony or flag vessel).
Also my question was about rewinding the clock, not refitting, and there were no issues, parasites didn't go poof.