How more tonnage changes British and American carriers

Britain's historical division between an air-group-centred strike carrier and an armoured fleet carrier reflected tight design tradeoffs. In this counterfactual, extra displacement lets one design combine roles that the Royal Navy had divided between separate carrier types. Ships around 25,800 tons might pair Ark Royal's aviation capacity with more of Illustrious's protection. The United States could use a 31,000-ton ceiling for larger revised Yorktowns and avoid the compromised Wasp. Because American planning centred on a Pacific war, the same treaty space could sensibly produce larger air groups rather than an identical British-style design.