Why a 50,000-ton submarine carrier is a nightmare

What role could a 50,000-ton submarine aircraft carrier perform in World War II?

It could attempt covert strike or agent-insertion missions, but sealing hangars, lifts, and a flight deck inside a pressure hull would make it vastly more complex and less useful than a conventional carrier.

The proposed boat would exceed even a Typhoon-class submarine in scale and would be extraordinarily difficult to propel with World War II machinery. Its possible missions include covert strikes and intelligence work, with the ship surfacing to launch and recover aircraft and using a beacon to guide them home. A straight flight deck, catapult, island, lift, and enclosed hangars would all have to fit into or connect with watertight pressure structures. Every opening for aircraft movement creates a major sealing and flooding problem, while the aviation group remains small for the hull's size. A conventional carrier would deliver far more aircraft more cheaply, quickly, and reliably.