Ranger offered 76 to 86 aircraft and nearly 30 knots on roughly 14,800 standard tons, a striking comparison with the smaller air group of Hermes. She achieved those figures with an extremely lightly built hull and only localized armor, visible in the deep rows of portholes outside protected machinery spaces. The U.S. Navy consequently kept her in the Atlantic rather than exposing her to the most demanding carrier war. Ryujo likewise claimed 48 aircraft on an even smaller hull and required added displacement after construction to cure stability trouble. Her early combat employment emphasized secondary areas, showing how paper aviation capacity can conceal poor survivability, seakeeping, and front-line utility.
Chapter · 49:02-55:29
Ranger and Ryujo pushed light construction too far
Ranger and Ryujo packed large air groups into restricted displacement, producing fragile or unstable ships best suited to secondary duties.