I understand this. But the most any "Battleship" has ever had in terms of aircraft was the occasional scout plane; this makes sense in Freelancer because any hangar shots you ever see never have that many fighters in view (the most I recall was something like four aboard the Osiris). A ship meant to be armored to Hell and back and equipped with the largest hardest-hitting guns, is not meant to carry wings of fighters. About the argument of the size: Battleships are big too, but their bulk goes to another purpose.
What would fit would be something like a 'Battle Carrier', a heavily armed and armored "Super Capital Ship" that can do all those roles at once. Starlancer had similar: some of its carriers like the Pukov and Czar were ridiculously huge with plenty of capability towards slagging other capital ships by themselves. But Freelancer got rid of carriers altogether, even when Starlancer and all the Wing Commanders featured them as the primary fighting vessel. Why? Because in Freelancer you fly a fighter that has unlimited endurance; no fuel, ammo's not necessary, no oxygen, no rations, etc. Therefore the most you'd need would be a big thing with big guns for big stuff; the fighters would magically fly everywhere. But that doesn't make much sense in a 'realistic' sense does it? Do entire battlefleets move around with their pilots stuck in their fighters the whole time? Of course not. Would a ship meant to have the thickest armor, the strongest shields, and the largest weapons be capable of fielding all these fighters? No; it betrays the definition of "Dreadnought" or "Battleship".
Keep or drop, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference; to me the only true fix is to wipe the "battleships" altogether.
