Damage control on top-heavy carriers

One explanation for Ark Royal's loss gives more weight to damage-control training and preparation than to the ship's design. The early losses of Courageous and Glorious removed experienced carrier damage-control personnel, while further specialists had to leave serving ships to train replacements. Some incoming personnel had spent their careers in other ship types and regarded deliberate flooding as a last resort. Top-heavy carriers required prompt counter-flooding to balance incoming water, and the manuals already called for it. On Ark Royal, that action came too late. Better subdivision and torpedo protection remained possible design criticisms, but written procedures could only work if crews understood and accepted the carrier's different requirements.