Fighters have a similar end result, although the causes/reasons are different.
Launching fighters in groups of, say 25, will get your navy slaughtered. Covert Jaguar had to learn this the hard way
Launching fighters in groups of three (the default), will keep you competitive in battles. For particularily large fleets (300+), where there simply aren't enough combat squares to launch in groups of three, fives or eights can be useful.