The cruiser carrier's station role differs from the demands of the Mediterranean and South China Sea. British planners expected land-based aircraft to penetrate a carrier's fighter screen eventually, however large its air group. That assumption encouraged armored flight decks and damage resistance so a carrier could remain usable on the second or third day of operations. A small Hermes derivative would therefore be poorly suited to the most intense air-threat environment. If separate light-carrier tonnage later allowed full-size fleet carriers to grow toward 27,000 tons, Britain could combine a large air group with armor.
Notable Point · 44:02-45:22
Land-based air threats preserve the need for armoured fleet carriers
Small station carriers do not replace heavily protected fleet carriers in waters where the Royal Navy expects repeated attack by land-based aircraft.