Argus began as a converted liner and never carried the air group expected of a first-line fleet carrier. In interwar exercises, however, she showed that even a modest deck could scout for surface raiders and protect convoys and maritime forces. Her service makes the escort carrier an evolutionary use of known technology rather than a wholly new wartime invention. The harder problem was deciding whether scarce carrier tonnage, aircraft, shipyard effort, and money should support this secondary mission before the threat became urgent.
Notable Point · 8:08-10:31
HMS Argus as an interwar escort-carrier precedent
Argus demonstrated that a modest converted carrier could support convoy, maritime, and force protection even when it lacked the air group of a fleet carrier.