Carrier lifts and folding-wing aircraft

Why use a T-shaped aircraft-carrier lift, and were Ark Royal's lifts too small?

Lift geometry follows aircraft planform. T-shaped lifts can accept unfolded wings, while rectangular British lifts were sized around naval aircraft designed to fold.

A T-shaped lift can move an aircraft without requiring the whole wing planform to fit inside a rectangle. That geometry can reduce the area consumed below while accommodating an unfolded aircraft above. Ark Royal's lifts were not simply too small; their rectangular shape reflected Fleet Air Arm aircraft designed with folding wings. The problem appeared when land-based RAF types without folding wings had to use the same equipment. This compatibility gap complicated plans to use carriers to move RAF aircraft to the Far East.