Contemporary naval architects' papers show how an urgent anti-submarine requirement became a practical merchant conversion programme. The original staff request sought a 490-foot flight deck, space for six fighters, and 14-15 knots. Merchant-yard limits forced acceptance of a 390-foot deck, four Swordfish, and about 11 knots. The episode shows procurement as an institutional compromise shaped by time, shipyard capacity, and competing allocations rather than the work of a single inventor.
Chapter · 1:29:00-1:33:45
Merchant aircraft carriers built around urgent convoy needs
MAC ships show how wartime requirements were reduced and adapted to the limits of available merchant yards.