Why an escort carrier conversion took more than a hull

Could Britain have quickly converted merchant ships or oilers into escort carriers when air cover was needed?

Such conversions required substantial fitting-out and aircraft preparation, making them neither quick nor inexpensive.

An oiler or merchant ship could not rapidly become a useful carrier by merely adding a flight deck. Hull condition first determined how practical the conversion would be. Electrical work, aviation fuel and storage arrangements, funnel ducting, and other fittings then had to be installed. The ship and its air group also needed time to work up before becoming operational. Those demands consumed scarce industrial and organisational capacity for months.