Comments by "" (@RedXlV) on "RN Francesco Caracciolo - Guide 381" video.
-
2
-
1
-
@liladoodle If Langley had never existed, most likely Lexington would have been CV-1. The reason USS Washington was cancelled was the Washington Naval Treaty, which allowed for only two capital ships per navy to be converted into 33,000 ton aircraft carriers. Any further conversions would have to comply with the normal 27,000 ton tonnage limit as purpose-built CVs. That substantially greater size allowance was what make Lexington and Saratoga worthwhile, despite the technical challenges involved in the conversion.
Not only would Washington not get that advantage, out of all the US capital ships that were cancelled to comply with the treaty, she was by a wide margin the least suitable for conversion. Look at Japan's experience with Kaga, which proved to be a significantly worse carrier than Akagi due to her shorter hull resulting in both a shorter flight deck and a lower top speed. Kaga was only chosen for conversion by necessity, after Amagi's keel was broken on the slipway by the Great Kanto Earthquake. Now consider that Kaga's hull before the conversion was already 144 feet longer than Washington's. They best you'd be able to get out of a conversion of Washington would be something similar to HMS Eagle. Frankly, even a bad carrier like USS Ranger is better than that, because at least Ranger was decently fast and 145 feet longer than a Colorado-class hull.
The other thing to remember about the treaty limits is that they didn't just limit the individual tonnage of warships, but also the collective tonnage of the entire fleet. The US Navy was allowed a total of 135,000 tons of aircraft carriers. Which means you really want to avoid inefficient designs that waste tonnage if you can help it. And thanks converting Washington into a 27,000 ton carrier would result in a far less efficient than any conceivable purpose-built carrier of the same tonnage.
1
-
1
-
1