Why the Royal Navy rejected very small carriers

The Royal Navy entered the treaty era with more carrier operating experience than its rivals. By 1939 it had almost as many carrier hulls as the rest of the world combined. Trials with HMS Argus and other small carriers had already shown their limited utility, so the preferred solution lay between treaty-avoidance designs and the largest ships permitted under the carrier rules. A 27,000-ton design could combine Ark Royal's strike capacity with armoured-carrier protection, but five such hulls could not maintain Britain's worldwide presence. Courageous and Glorious also showed how a conversion inherits hull proportions and internal arrangements that prevent an efficient carrier layout. Force-structure needs favoured a larger number of purpose-built, medium-sized carriers over weak miniature ships or a handful of exceptional giants.