Island and flush-deck carrier design tradeoffs

Flush-deck carriers needed elaborate ducts or movable funnels to keep boiler gases away from pilots approaching the after flight deck. Argus, Furious, Kaga, Hōshō, Langley, Akagi, and Ryūjō illustrate several attempts to route exhaust away from flying operations. Experience showed that a short, narrow, streamlined island caused limited airflow disturbance while permitting a wider, cooler hangar and more aircraft storage. The island nevertheless introduced asymmetry, navigation complications, and a heeling moment, especially when heavy gun mountings shared the same side of the ship.