Ark Royal and the Yorktown class were comparable but purposefully different answers to national strategy. A Royal Navy carrier had to survive in constrained waters such as the Mediterranean and operate far from Britain, while the United States could use Pacific distance as part of its protection. American designers could emphasize a large first strike and accept space itself as armour in an ocean where finding a carrier was difficult. The same assumption worked less well in the Mediterranean or among Southeast Asian islands. The unbuilt Malta class and the Midways would have displayed two mature carrier philosophies after the war through their differing armour, weapons, and layouts. Even close allies continued to make different choices because their strategic needs were not identical, so one successful national design should not become a universal template.
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Why Ark Royal and Yorktown differed
British and American carrier designs reflected different operating spaces, survivability assumptions, and approaches to air power rather than one universal naval solution.