Furious, Courageous, and Glorious could each operate with a pair of fast capital ships, matching interwar exercises that explored carrier-supported searches for surface raiders and responses to distant crises. Six fast capital ships would provide a pool large enough to assemble these groups more consistently through maintenance and deployment cycles. A revived flying squadron, reinforced by cruisers and destroyers, would concentrate scarce power while remaining available to reinforce the main fleets. Such a mobile reserve had precedents in the nineteenth-century Royal Navy. Regular combined deployments could also develop naval aviation experience and give carriers a more established place in the command structure.
Chapter · 53:32-59:14
Fast capital ships and carriers could revive the Royal Navy's flying squadron
Six fast capital ships and three fast carriers could support repeatable task groups for raider hunting, crisis response, and worldwide presence.