Geography, treaty limits, industrial capacity, and funding pushed the three major carrier navies toward different solutions. American and Japanese planning for wide Pacific spaces emphasized a concentrated alpha strike intended to find and hit the enemy first. Britain instead needed continuous reconnaissance, air defense, anti-submarine patrols, and night operations for Mediterranean and Far Eastern commitments. A 27,000-ton carrier might combine more roles, but building only a handful would not cover the Royal Navy's worldwide responsibilities within treaty tonnage. Smaller individual air groups could still deliver a large blow through practiced multi-carrier coordination, turning fleet organization into a substitute for ship-for-ship size. British night capability also became a factor that planners and naval attachés could include when assessing the other carrier powers.
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Alpha strikes versus continuous carrier operations
American and Japanese carriers emphasized the first massed blow, while British carriers favored continuous reconnaissance, defense, anti-submarine work, and night operations.