The preferred British carrier would have combined an Ark Royal-sized air group with an armoured hangar. The ideal package also included stronger underwater protection in the style of the G3 battlecruiser design. Treaty displacement limits made that combination impractical within the permitted hull size. British designers had to choose among aircraft capacity, protection, and displacement instead of building the larger carrier that operational experience encouraged.
Notable Point · 13:13-14:34
The ideal British carrier exceeded treaty tonnage
An Ark Royal-sized ship with an armoured hangar shows what tonnage limits denied British carrier designers.