Files concerning early dual-island concepts for HMS Eagle and HMS Hermes show how later classification can reflect a broad association rather than a design's precise history. Only a small circle may have understood the secret 1914 project as anything more than another Queen Elizabeth-type battleship, which reduces the chance of later oral recollection. Private papers belonging to Stanley Goodall, Reginald Henderson, and John Jellicoe could clarify the record, although their owners or later custodians may have removed sensitive material. The surviving gaps therefore cannot establish that naval planners never tested or considered the idea.
Notable Point · 1:01:13-1:05:45
Secret warship projects and the limits of surviving archives
A discussion of a secret 1914 warship project and dual-island carrier files explains why classification history, compartmented knowledge, and weeded private papers can leave major gaps in naval archives.