Carrier designs should be judged by how well they suited their navies' circumstances. The French and German projects were poorly matched to their users, even though their engineers took the problem seriously. Without an earlier operational carrier, elaborate paper solutions survived where routine sea experience would probably have replaced them with more mundane, practical systems. Technically impressive machinery could not substitute for doctrine tested through repeated fleet operations.
Chapter · 11:41-13:17
Carrier designs must be judged against national needs
Bearn, Joffre, and Graf Zeppelin demonstrate the danger of brilliant engineering developed without enough operational carrier experience.