Chapter ยท 29:09-36:25

Could Admiral-class hulls have become carriers?

A counterfactual considers converting more Admiral-class battlecruisers into large carriers able to support twin-engine aircraft.

Notes

Converting three incomplete Admiral-class hulls into carriers could have given the Royal Navy unusually large flight decks and hangars. Their beam and capacity might have encouraged folding-wing, twin-engine aircraft to meet British preferences for range and reliability. Treaty limits constrained the beam available to historical armoured carriers. In this counterfactual, a carrier could work with Hood, Renown, or Repulse as a group hunting surface raiders. Keeping those escorts ready for the role might have brought forward their modernization, with consequences for the timing of other capital-ship refits. The idea still involves adapting battlecruiser hulls to a different purpose; the proposed aircraft and force never existed.