How G3 carrier conversions might have transformed naval aviation

With 160,000 shaft horsepower, four shafts, and large hulls already ordered, the G3s offered unusually strong carrier-conversion candidates. A plausible conversion could have used steel flight decks, air groups near 72 aircraft, and two-ship carrier divisions in both the Home and Mediterranean Fleets. Their prestige would likely have required rear-admiral commands and dedicated staffs by the mid-1920s. That institutional change could have accelerated doctrine, aircraft development, escort practice, and the status of naval aviation before the Second World War. Aircraft immediately after the First World War were not yet decisive against heavily armoured ships, so the scenario concerns long-term institutional development rather than instant battleship obsolescence. Designing the conversions early might also have encouraged deck-edge lifts and less restrictive aircraft dimensions, while the enormous machinery power could have supported later jet-era modernization.