Yorktown and Enterprise combined an approximately 90-aircraft group with a far more substantial hull than Ranger. Their near-simultaneous construction at Newport News embodied the U.S. Navy's developing mass-strike carrier concept. Flight and hangar arrangements suited Pacific operations, but flag, personnel, storage, and command spaces did not anticipate the staffs needed to direct expanding carrier forces. Wartime radios and radar would add still more pressure to spaces conceived before those systems became central. A relatively small allowance of steel and volume could have improved command adaptability without changing the class's successful aviation design.
Notable Point · 1:03:02-1:08:26
Yorktown-class aviation strength outgrew its command spaces
The Yorktown class matched American Pacific aviation doctrine well, yet gave too little room to the staffs and communications systems needed to command growing carrier forces.