Yamato-class carriers would still need aircrew

How might the war have changed if the Yamato class had been designed as carriers?

It could improve Japan’s aviation system if it forced earlier pilot expansion, but it would not remove the wider industrial constraints.

The counterfactual is not reduced to deck space. Building Yamato-class carriers would require a much larger pool of pilots, observers, maintainers, and deck crews. That pressure could compel Japan to expand and professionalize aviator recruitment and training before the war. A broader system might reduce the later situation in which ships and aircraft existed without enough qualified aircrew to use them. Even so, changing the hulls and training pipeline would not remove the industrial, fuel, and replacement constraints that eventually overwhelmed Japan.