Glorious retained the dimensions, speed, and fifty-aircraft capacity of her Courageous-class conversion. Ryujo, completed in 1933, was only 549 feet long and 7,100 tons but still made 25 knots and carried twelve 5.1-inch anti-aircraft guns. Placing them together shows how far interwar carrier solutions could diverge in hull scale and origin. The comparison reinforces the argument that navies were experimenting with many carrier forms rather than following one settled template.
Chapter · 2:52:46-2:53:38
Glorious and Ryujo show the scale of interwar carrier experiments
The 22,500-ton Glorious and 7,100-ton Ryujo place a large battlecruiser conversion beside a compact purpose-built Japanese carrier.