Ryujo began as a modest carrier designed around one hangar, before the effort to carry roughly twice as many aircraft beneath the treaty limit. Extra hangar volume, funnel trunking, and structure raised weight high in a hull designed for a different configuration. A smaller air group could still have made Ryujo a valuable additional flight deck for fleet protection. A successful sub-10,000-ton design might even have encouraged the 1930 London Treaty to distinguish light from fleet carriers. That force-structure option was lost when the effort to maximise nominal capacity produced an unstable ship that required rebuilding.
Chapter · 1:48:37-1:57:10
Ryujo's second hangar undermined a viable light carrier
Ryujo began as a potentially useful 24-aircraft carrier, but adding a second hangar created the top-weight and structural problems that required rebuilding.