USS Ranger supplies another warning about saving too much weight in a small carrier. Her hull flexed in heavy weather, recalling the later idea of a minimally built sea-control ship. A crew could develop pride in enduring a difficult vessel, but that esprit did not remove the ship's structural and seakeeping limits. The comparison shows why a cruiser-carrier still needs enough strength for sustained operations at sea.
Notable Point · 49:01-49:37
Ranger shows the structural cost of a very light carrier
Ranger's flexing in heavy weather illustrates the structural and seakeeping penalties that can accompany an aggressively light carrier design.