Q&A · 4:14:02-4:18:08

Completing Reprisal, Iwo Jima, and the canceled Midways

The last Essex hulls would probably enter service as conventional straight-deck carriers, while three additional Midways could mature into more valuable angled-deck ships.

Question

How would the unfinished Essex-class carriers and canceled Midways change if completed after 1945?

Short answer

Reprisal and Iwo Jima would likely be ordinary late Essexes, while later Midways could enter service with more advanced postwar carrier features.

Notes

Reprisal had been launched and Iwo Jima laid down, so completing them would most likely produce conventional late Essex-class carriers. Completion with angled flight decks is considered possible but unlikely. The three canceled Midways offer a different counterfactual because later construction could allow them to emerge with angled decks already incorporated. Extra carriers would also mean that some older ships probably left service sooner.