Operational availability matters more than paper strength. Extra French hulls would let the Royal Navy rotate more of its own vessels through maintenance instead of repeatedly postponing long dockyard periods. Ark Royal is the example: she carried workable but accumulating defects that several weeks in a major yard could have addressed. Deferred maintenance was a major contributor to her vulnerability, although it was not the sole cause of her historical loss. Fleet size therefore generates combat power through repair and rotation as well as through additional guns and aircraft. Sea routes carry logistics and forces between theatres, making maintenance capacity part of sustained naval power.
Notable Point · 42:30-45:18
Extra hulls create maintenance time as well as firepower
An intact French fleet gives Britain operational slack, allowing ships such as Ark Royal to receive overdue dockyard work instead of remaining in continuous service.