Q&A · 2:53:20-2:54:30

Why carrier air groups encounter a human ceiling

Larger treaty conversions would reveal that coordinating roughly one hundred aircraft creates an operational limit beyond simple deck area.

Question

How would a larger carrier-conversion allowance affect ships such as Kaga?

Short answer

It could reveal earlier that air groups near one hundred aircraft face a human and operational management ceiling, encouraging different carrier and aircraft choices.

Notes

Larger experimental carriers could help navies discover sooner that air-group size is constrained by people and coordination as well as hull dimensions. Once the complement approaches ninety to one hundred aircraft, launch, recovery, parking, maintenance, and command interactions become much harder to manage. That lesson could redirect design toward larger aircraft or more workable air groups. Simply increasing the number carried would no longer look like the best use of a larger hull.