What if a Malta-class carrier appeared in 1935?

Would sending a Malta-class aircraft carrier back to 1935 materially improve the Royal Navy in the Second World War?

Yes. It would be extremely useful and likely become the model for later British carriers, although existing treaty limits would create an immediate international problem.

An early Malta-class carrier could carry roughly fifty-four to seventy-two Swordfish and shape the designs that became Implacable, Indefatigable, and Audacious. Its size and capacity would offer the Royal Navy a powerful alternative to its smaller historical carriers. Naval treaties still mattered in 1935, so the ship's sudden appearance would create an immediate international problem. The Royal Navy might try to conceal it until the strategic situation justified revealing it.