Comparisons with Ark Royal's larger air group can make Unicorn look like an appendage to the armored Illustrious class. Ark Royal was conceived as a strike carrier, while the armored ships and Unicorn answered different operational requirements. Unicorn was ordered and laid down in 1939 alongside Implacable and Indefatigable, carriers that combined armor with more aircraft space. The Second London Naval Treaty's removal of a cumulative carrier-tonnage ceiling allowed Britain to build multiple 27,000-ton standard carriers. A separate support ship therefore cannot be explained simply as a shortage of permitted carrier capacity. Her justification lay in moving deep aviation support to places where bases could not provide it.
Notable Point · 18:05-20:54
Why Unicorn was not a remedy for small armored-carrier air groups
Unicorn's ordering beside the larger Implacable-class carriers undermines the claim that she existed merely to compensate for Illustrious-class capacity limits.