Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 1:19:28-1:20:24

Why widening Courageous means rebuilding the ship

Increasing beam along the full hull would require reconstruction from the keel, while deck-edge lifts could expand aircraft handling without rebuilding the entire carrier.

Aircraft CarriersCourageous Class Warship LineageFlight DecksWarship Modernisation
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Question

How much modification would Courageous need to carry about fifty-two aircraft, and would widening the beam help?

Short answer

Full-length widening would amount to rebuilding the ship; deck-edge lifts are a more practical way to improve aircraft capacity.

Notes

Widening a ship is much more invasive than inserting a new hull section to lengthen it. Changing the beam along the full length means reshaping structure from the keel upward and effectively rebuilding the vessel. A small beam increase is therefore an inefficient route to a larger air group. Deck-edge lifts offer a more useful modification because they recover hangar and handling space without reconstructing the whole hull.