Illustrious embodied a different carrier doctrine

Ark Royal and Illustrious embodied different carrier doctrines. Ark Royal had the larger strike capacity, while Illustrious reflected a British expectation of operating alongside the fleet where attack and limited support infrastructure made survivability especially important. The armoured-hangar carrier was intended to provide air defence and repeated supporting attacks close to the battle fleet. Taranto demonstrates that this design could still deliver a potent offensive blow, even when it was not the preferred platform for the largest possible strike. Carrier scarcity also shaped the deployment: the losses of Courageous and Glorious left too few flight decks to divide cleanly between Atlantic and Mediterranean duties.