Carrier design was a force-structure problem for an empire with commitments across the world. A small carrier force could not dedicate individual ships permanently to one ocean when maintenance and emergencies already reduced availability. The same carrier might be required in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, or Pacific as strategic conditions changed. Ark Royal's later Atlantic and Mediterranean service shows why the design had to remain useful outside any single theatre.
Chapter · 10:01-12:00
A carrier built for a global Royal Navy
Ark Royal was not a Pacific-only design because British carrier forces had to be usable across the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, and beyond.