A two-tier fleet and light-carrier system

Several possible formulas reserve most tonnage for fleet carriers while protecting a smaller allocation for light carriers. An 8,188-long-ton reference point shows how far a useful aviation hull could sit below fleet-carrier size. Permission to build sub-10,000-ton light carriers might even have removed the perceived need for HMS Unicorn in its historical form. USS Wasp's 14,700-long-ton standard displacement later provides a concrete example of what a 15,000-ton ceiling could accommodate. The arithmetic is awkward, but the purpose is clear: prevent every navy from spending its entire allowance on one carrier type. For the Royal Navy, such a rule could have supported a repeating program of roughly 25,000-ton fleet carriers and 11,000- to 15,000-ton light carriers without a carrier-building holiday.