Malta carriers as postwar diplomatic leverage

A state no longer able to match the United States in quantity could still maximize the quality and visibility of the forces it retained. Large Malta-class carriers would have given Britain a stronger hand in alliance diplomacy and overseas crises than a larger collection of light carriers. The preferred postwar force in this counterfactual combines four Maltas with the two Audacious-class ships, concentrating resources in a powerful carrier core. The case concerns political leverage as well as combat power: credible mobile air groups would make British commitments more useful to allies and harder for opponents to ignore.