Design labels shifted from cruiser requirements toward light carriers, and the exact historical use of through-deck cruiser remains debated. The operational need nevertheless remained aviation at sea. The Navy required helicopters for anti-submarine warfare, Harriers for air defence and strike, and a flight deck able to support both. The term therefore worked as a pointed joke about policy rather than a reliable description of function. Ministers could deny buying aircraft carriers while the Navy obtained the only ship type capable of supplying the required reach and air power.
Chapter · 47:18-48:43
Through-deck cruiser as political language
Calling the new ships through-deck cruisers exposed the political fiction that Britain had stopped building carriers.