Three boilers, one triple-expansion engine, and a single shaft gave Ark Royal a top speed of only about 11 knots. That machinery suited a vessel expected to find a distant safe position, stop, and work its seaplanes rather than keep pace with the battle fleet. Wartime submarine experience exposed the danger in that assumption because a stationary ship presented a tempting torpedo target. The loss of Aboukir, Cressy, and Hogue became the shorthand warning behind this concern. Later development therefore favoured faster carriers able to maintain contact with moving fleet formations.
Chapter · 18:19-20:15
A slow seaplane carrier meets wartime risk
Ark Royal's simple 11-knot design assumed distant, stationary flying operations that wartime submarine threats made dangerous.