Damage control must match the ship

How could damage control contribute to a warship's loss?

Incorrect actions can worsen damage. Ark Royal shows why crews must understand the particular flooding and stability behaviour of their own ship type.

Incorrect damage-control assumptions can be as dangerous as battle damage itself. Ark Royal is the example of an officer overriding written procedure because experience on other ships made it appear wrong. A carrier distributes weight differently from a conventional warship, so flooding and counterflooding change its stability in different ways. Damage-control doctrine must therefore be understood for the particular hull rather than applied from habit.