Part 3 of 4 "The effect of the early jet age on naval warfare strategy/tactics?"

Meet the Centaur- and Audacious-class carriers that gave the Royal Navy a largely new carrier force by the Suez Crisis.

See how British carrier innovation ranged from mirror landing sights and practical angled decks to the abandoned undercarriage-free rubber deck.

Only partly: the island itself was not especially heavy, but the angled deck helped offset the denser machinery and exhaust trunking concentrated on the starboard side.

The Suez operation combined three strike carriers with two helicopter carriers while Britain maintained commitments elsewhere.

Skyraider warning aircraft and Wyvern attack planes show how quickly Royal Navy carrier aviation specialised after Korea.

Sea Hawk performance, cannon, rockets, bombs, and drop tanks show what a new single-seat carrier jet could contribute at Suez.

The Royal Navy retained the powerful Wyvern so its strike force did not depend entirely on immature jet technology.

The two-seat Sea Venom combined jet speed, heavy cannon armament, and day-and-night carrier operations.

The attacks on the Egyptian air force measure how much operational power Britain's new ships and aircraft could deliver.

Soviet surface raiders threatened distant sea lanes partly to pull NATO carriers and escorts away from the North Atlantic and Mediterranean.

Suez repeated wartime strike patterns, but the Soviet threat pushed carriers toward air defence, reconnaissance, long-range attack, and anti-submarine warfare.