A carrier hull might remain in service for twenty or thirty years while aircraft developed far more quickly. HMS Furious's decks supported several generations of torpedo bombers from Sopwith Cuckoos onward and fighters from Sopwith Camels to Hurricanes. Designers therefore had to preserve usefulness across aircraft that had yet to be built while judging whether future air power would strike directly or guide a battle fleet's guns. Illustrious's compromises record expectations about future naval aviation as well as the aircraft available in the 1930s.
Notable Point · 2:08-4:31
Designing a carrier for aircraft not yet built
HMS Furious shows why interwar designers had to anticipate decades of aircraft development instead of optimizing a carrier for one contemporary air group.