Pre-war studies had considered extending the flight deck, moving the lifts, and gaining hangar space. The counterfactual hinges on wartime priorities: a necessary repair period could make a costly refit more attractive than it was under treaty and peacetime constraints. A full-length deck could remove the forward step, move the launch equipment, and create useful volume beneath the new deck. Damage that already sent a ship to a British, Canadian, or American yard would provide the most plausible opportunity for that work.
Notable Point · 24:03-24:58
A wartime full-length flight-deck refit
Damage and a major yard period could have turned a surviving sister into a more useful full-length-deck carrier.