Originally Posted by
captain kong
HMS Formidable
Amazing how fast they recovered from that attack. 25 minutes.
The US carriers had wooden flight decks and would have been out for months.
US and Japanese carriers had wood because of repairability. If they had an accident, or crash, they just pulled up the damaged or burnt wood and replaced it, apparently, with enough men, something they had plenty of, they could replace large areas quickly.
However if the damage penetrated through the flight deck then the consequences to the hanger space underneath would be severe and then it was a dockyard job for repairs. Witness the frequency of time spent in dock by USN carriers after kamikaze hits. RN carriers took less damage from comparable hits and could resume operations sooner.
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The British crews mainly mixed quick drying concrete to flatten out dents in the flight deck after kamikaze attacks.
A USN liaison officer on HMS Formidable off Okinawa was reported as saying "When a kamikaze hits a US carrier, it's six months repair in Pearl. In a Limey carrier, it's 'sweepers, man your brooms'.
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