Soryu and Shokaku provide a better test of the carrier idea than Graf Zeppelin's dimensions alone. Soryu is shorter than Scharnhorst and much narrower, while Shokaku is only modestly longer, so the German hull's 30-metre beam offers useful stability and deck width. Removing battleship armor and gun weight might also let the carrier retain or slightly exceed 31 knots. The Japanese nominal complements are larger, but North Atlantic service drives the German design back toward roughly 40 hangar-stowed aircraft. Japanese influence supplies proven lift, flight-deck, and arrangement ideas without requiring the Germans to copy every feature. The main deck would remain the strength deck.
Chapter · 25:46-31:33
Soryu and Shokaku make the common-hull carrier credible
Japanese carrier dimensions show that a 235-metre, 30-metre-beam Scharnhorst hull could carry a useful hangar-stowed air group without reproducing the oversized Graf Zeppelin.