Back in the late 1980s when I was in fleet, a "____________ battle group" (carrier or battleship at the time) was one, electronically linked unit, spread out over a very large area.
Radars, sonars, fire-control systems, weapons systems for all the ships were interlinked, all with one primary job: protect the flagship. It was very effective in drills against all threats, except submarines.
I can only imagine that such technology has improved and expanded beyond our wildest dreams. If the F-35 Lightning II can perform such a function (and it can) using radar from AWACS, fighters, and ground-based systems, then use that information (and it can) to control and operate the friendly weapons systems while suppressing enemy measures/countermeasures, whatever fits on a ship must be echelons higher in capabilities.
All this media fretting over things like Iran capturing a drone or China snagging sea drones overlooks one big aspect: the U.S. Military historically excels at disinformation. What these enemy nations "think" they captured is one thing. That we now have implanted viruses across their entire defense networks (to be worked and exploited by things like carrier groups and F-35s) is something else entirely different.
The whole "disinformation" aspect makes me question the hype over Clinton selling our "current top-secret missile technology" to China, who then disseminated it to Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan.
Hhmmm.