Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 2:30:24-2:30:45

A ten-ship Malta carrier programme could still contract after the war

The counterfactual separates Britain's ability to build and operate a large carrier force during the war from the smaller fleet it might retain by 1970.

Aircraft CarriersAlternate HistoryForce StructureHMS VanguardMalta Class Aircraft CarriersMissile CruisersPostwar BritainRoyal Navy
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Question

Would ten Malta-class carriers have been too many for the Royal Navy?

Short answer

No, but the fleet would probably have fallen to roughly five or six carriers by about 1970.

Notes

Ten Malta-class carriers would not have exceeded the Royal Navy's wartime ability to operate them if they had been completed. It does not assume that all ten would remain in commission indefinitely, estimating a reduction to roughly five or six by about 1970. In an earlier version of the same prosperous postwar-Britain scenario, Vanguard remains briefly and heavy missile cruisers replace the unbuilt Tigers as escorts for the Malta carriers. A large wartime construction programme and later postwar contraction are therefore treated as compatible stages of the same alternate fleet.