Originally Posted by
pablo42
So they repaired the decks with concrete. Was that special concrete or just ordinary stuff.
It was developed for that application and was quick drying. The US had wooden decks which were also for topside lightness - a compromise. However they all adopted the UKs full armoured hangars and flight decks after WW2. I think the US Essex class were armoured decks towards the end of WW2.
The US view was that if you had enough planes you could protect the carrier, so no need for heavy armour - it never worked. Their carriers were large and designed to operate in the vast Pacific, so their planes were forward attack planes. US carriers were supplied from Atolls. UK carriers were smaller and more armoured as they expected to operate near to shore within range of land bases enemy planes. They also had limited range as the expected at sea time was 10 days, as they would be always be near to a friendly port having such a vast empire. British carriers were not for attack, rather more support than anything else, until that doctrine was changed during WW2.
The problem with armoured hangars was that it reduced aircraft capacity - hence larger, massive, expensive carriers post-war. The British Far East fleet carriers in 1945 ended up with 81 planes by storing them on decks and some overhanging the sea.
The British perfected the carrier and developed just about everything in carrier systems in its evolution:
- the first purpose built carrier
- armoured flight decks
- angled flight decks,
- the ski-jump deck,
- the steam catapult
- practical vertical take-off jet aircraft - the Harrier.
- mirror landing systems
- the first through decks
- hurricane bows.
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..and a few more I haven't thought of.
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