British and American carrier-capacity figures are difficult to compare when one navy routinely counts deck parks and the other does not. Royal Navy experience had shown that aircraft left exposed could be lost to heavy weather in the North Atlantic and North Sea. Although deck parking was practical in the Mediterranean, British planners wanted an air group that could survive deployment wherever the carrier was sent. Hangar footprint therefore mattered more to British capacity estimates than a maximum fair-weather deck load.
Notable Point · 30:42-31:37
Why the Royal Navy avoided routine deck parking
North Atlantic and North Sea weather made exposed aircraft an unreliable basis for Royal Navy carrier-capacity planning.