Use light carriers to perfect the jet-age fleet

The proposal deliberately slows Malta construction while accelerating two Audacious ships as conventional straight-deck carriers. Spreading expenditure over more years leaves room to rebuild the merchant fleet and address rationing while new carrier equipment is tested. This requires avoiding the historical Ark Royal mistake: she sat close to completion without being fully watertight, allowing weather exposure to degrade systems and burden her later service. Colossus and Majestic hulls become inexpensive test beds for steam catapults, angled decks, and other emerging systems rather than risking the operational Implacables. Once the configuration is proven, two more Audacious ships and four Maltas enter service with angled decks from the outset. This larger carrier program could also sustain completion of more Daring-class destroyers as its primary escorts. The experimental light carriers can then be sold abroad. The resulting force centers on four Malta-class and two angled-deck Audacious carriers, with the original two straight-deck Audacious ships available for support.