Would early large carriers strengthen the Fleet Air Arm?

Earlier construction of several large British carriers would reinforce the same Japanese-war planning and force-growth arguments that helped return Fleet Air Arm control to the Admiralty.

Question

If Britain built large, Implacable-like carriers in the mid-1930s, would Fleet Air Arm procurement control return to the Admiralty sooner?

Short answer

A larger carrier programme would reinforce the arguments already building around Fleet Air Arm growth, Japan planning, and the arrival of major carriers, though the institutional outcome would still depend on those wider debates.

Notes

Two historical arguments lay behind the 1937 return of Fleet Air Arm control to the Admiralty. Planning for a war against Japan exposed the need for naval aviation under naval direction. At the same time, Ark Royal and the Illustrious class were making the air arm much larger and more important to fleet operations. A programme of large carriers beginning earlier in the decade would intensify both pressures before the historical decision point. An earlier transfer is therefore plausible, although it would still depend on the wider institutional debate rather than on ship size alone.