The Malta class as Britain's missed postwar fleet carrier

The Malta class may have been a wartime attempt to secure a peacetime fleet capability before expected spending cuts. A navy could begin an expensive hull while wartime funding was available and argue afterward that completion was cheaper than abandonment. The unrealized ships had potential comparable to the long-serving US Midway class and might likewise have remained useful into the 1990s. Their size offered more room for later aircraft and equipment than Britain's smaller wartime carriers. Beginning a major hull during war can make cancellation politically and financially harder once peace returns.