Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 1:56:10-2:05:22

How an aggressive Russia reshapes British carriers

A different arms treaty could favor purpose-built carriers, larger hulls, armored protection, and longer-ranged aircraft much earlier.

Aircraft CarriersHMS EagleHMS FuriousHMS HermesIllustrious Class Aircraft CarriersNaval AviationRoyal Navy
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Question

Would an aggressive Imperial Russian Navy lead Britain to build different aircraft carriers?

Short answer

Yes; without historical conversion and total-tonnage rules, Britain could favor large purpose-built carriers with armor, larger air groups, and longer-ranged aircraft.

Notes

Without historical conversion clauses, Britain might build more carriers from scratch rather than rely on Courageous and Glorious conversions. Furious could remain an experimental conversion while Hermes and Eagle supplied lessons for a purpose-built successor. A roughly 35,000-ton ceiling would let designers combine armor with an air group far larger than that of an Illustrious-class ship. Repeated construction could produce iterative development at perhaps one large carrier per year and encourage twin-engine aircraft with much longer strike range. An aggressive Russian fleet would make that sustained naval-aviation investment strategically valuable in several theaters.