The escort-carrier idea appeared before the later wartime programmes. HMS Argus and exercises involving the conversion of merchant vessels provide earlier evidence of Royal Navy thinking. The service could test the operating idea before it possessed a large conversion programme. Gaining access to suitable merchant ships was the limiting factor in this account.
Notable Point · 2:05:19-2:06:16
HMS Argus and the early escort-carrier idea
A counterfactual procurement discussion notes that the Royal Navy had already explored escort-carrier concepts through Argus exercises and merchant-ship conversion ideas.