Q&A ยท 2:45:46-2:53:28

Replacing the Royal Navy's experimental carriers earlier

Using treaty replacement rights earlier could exchange the Royal Navy's experimental carriers for a more uniform and capable force before 1939.

Question

What if the Royal Navy used treaty provisions to replace its experimental aircraft carriers earlier?

Short answer

It could retire the oldest experimental ships in sequence and enter the war with a larger, more capable, and more coherent carrier force.

Notes

The answer imagines Britain beginning an orderly replacement of its earliest experimental carriers in the early 1930s. Argus would go first, followed over time by Hermes, Eagle, Furious, Courageous, and Glorious as new ships entered service. The Royal Navy already possessed many carrier hulls by 1939, but replacing the least satisfactory conversions could make the force more capable as well as numerically large. New construction would also deepen the demand for aircraft, crews, maintenance, and naval aviation doctrine. A later comment summarizes the outcome as a fleet with many carriers rather than a few experimental survivors. The distinction separates headline carrier count from the quality and coherence of the carrier force.