I think your engines are darn fuel hogs
I have thrown together the carrier below (also magneto plasma engines)
Exeter class Carrier 38,600 tons 735 Crew 5230.1 BP TCS 772 TH 2052 EM 0
2658 km/s Armour 3-101 Shields 0-0 Sensors 220/220/0/0 Damage Control Rating 59 PPV 0
Maint Life 6.14 Years MSP 4996 AFR 202% IFR 2.8% 1YR 228 5YR 3414 Max Repair 220 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months Flight Crew Berths 95
Hangar Deck Capacity 13000 tons Magazine 1105
Parsons Type 228 Military Magneto-Plasma Drive (9) Power 228 Fuel Use 44.86% Signature 228 Exp 9%
Fuel Capacity 5,000,000 Litres Range 52.0 billion km (226 days at full power)
BAC Sea Skua Mk. IV (276) Speed: 40,000 km/s End: 29.2m Range: 70.1m km WH: 5 Size: 4 TH: 173/104/52
Watson-Watt Type 220 Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 220 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 220m km
Watson-Watt Type 220 EM Sensor (1) Sensitivity 220 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 220m km
Strike Group
30x Swiftsure Fighter-bomber Speed: 13714 km/s Size: 7
6x Hermes Fighter-Scout Speed: 13812 km/s Size: 6.95
As you can see, I haven´t any PD on this baby (mainly, because my carrier doctrin says: Don´t let the carrier get spotted, let the fighters do the fighting)
My engines are very likely to be larger than yours (mine are 750 tons each), but you have to consider this:
I have 5000 tons of fuel plus 6750 tons of engines on board for a total of 11,750 tons
You have 10,350 tons of fuel alone aboard, so my larger, less powerfull engines more than make up for this fact by the increased fuel efficiency.
Yes, fuel is needed to refuel the fighers carried, but you carry 13 FACs with 5,000 liters fuel each for a total of 65,000 liters of fuel. Even if you use them for 10 sorties, this would be only a drop in the bucket of your fuel supply, so your 10 million liters are obviously needed to keep the carrier going.
Because my fuel/engine part use so much less mass/space, I can put a whooping 13,000 ton hanger deck in, about two and a half the size of yours. If you think your strike group can take on the enemy fleet, think what _my_ strike group could do.
You might also notice, that I don´t have any active sensor on the carrier, but two huge (1000 ton each) passives. This is to get the general area where the enemy is and then send in the strikegroup, which will include a few recon fighters (see carrier doctrin above)
And here my fighters (also thrown together and not realy optimized)
Swiftsure class Fighter-bomber 350 tons 2 Crew 92.8 BP TCS 7 TH 96 EM 0
13714 km/s Armour 1-4 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 1.8
Maint Life 32.08 Years MSP 83 AFR 1% IFR 0% 1YR 0 5YR 2 Max Repair 21 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 8
Magazine 12
32 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (3) Power 32 Fuel Use 336.02% Signature 32 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 1.5 billion km (31 hours at full power)
Sea Skua VLS System (3) Missile Size 4 Hangar Reload 30 minutes MF Reload 5 hours
High Angel Control System Type 53/60 (1) Range 53.7m km Resolution 60
BAC Sea Skua Mk. IV (3) Speed: 40,000 km/s End: 29.2m Range: 70.1m km WH: 5 Size: 4 TH: 173/104/52
Size 4 missiles, because that is what I am using in my game and way too much maintenance, but I don´t have the tiny enigneering space researched yet. I also don´t have the tiny crew quarters, which is why there are lots of spare berths on my fighers. With those two items researched, my fighters would probably approach the speed of your missile FACs
Hermes class Fighter-Scout 348 tons 3 Crew 119 BP TCS 6.95 TH 96 EM 0
13812 km/s Armour 1-4 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 20.69 Years MSP 107 AFR 1% IFR 0% 1YR 0 5YR 7 Max Repair 58 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 7
32 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (3) Power 32 Fuel Use 336.02% Signature 32 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 1.5 billion km (31 hours at full power)
Active Search Sensor MR69-R120 (1) GPS 6930 Range 69.6m km Resolution 120
The eyes of the strike package.
A carrier would have three squadrons of 10 Swiftsure and 2 Hermes each.