lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Aug 14, 2021 12:07:14 GMT
So the 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier became the Colossus class which was a scaled-down Illustrious. So no my question, where there 1943 Design Light Fleet Carriers, 1944 Design Light Fleet Carriers ore 1945 Design Light Fleet Carriers as i cannot find any information about it ore was the 942 Design Light Fleet Carrier the only British Light Fleet Carrier design during World War II. |
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Post by simon darkshade on Aug 14, 2021 12:32:50 GMT
The 1942 Design had the Majestic sub class, but there were no further CVL designs that made it to serious consideration.
We find their successors in the Centaur class intermediate carriers. They simply weren't labelled by their year.
There certainly wouldn't be a 1945 CVL, as it was past the point where there was a need for one.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Aug 14, 2021 12:48:28 GMT
The 1942 Design had the Majestic sub class, but there were no further CVL designs that made it to serious consideration. We find their successors in the Centaur class intermediate carriers. They simply weren't labelled by their year. There certainly wouldn't be a 1945 CVL, as it was past the point where there was a need for one. But in theory we could classify the Majestic class as a 1943 Design ore is it just a sub class of the Colossus class. |
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Post by simon darkshade on Aug 14, 2021 13:20:55 GMT
No, it was just an evolved and slightly enlarged sub class. Whole new designs do take time and aren’t cranked out every year.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Aug 14, 2021 13:26:03 GMT
No, it was just an evolved and slightly enlarged sub class. Whole new designs do take time and aren’t cranked out every year. But i was just thinking, we known that naval designers like to design new ships, some are build and some are not, toughed that there might be some designs being follow up of the 1942 designs. |
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Aug 14, 2021 13:32:47 GMT
No, it was just an evolved and slightly enlarged sub class. Whole new designs do take time and aren’t cranked out every year. But i was just thinking, we known that naval designers like to design new ships, some are build and some are not, toughed that there might be some designs being follow up of the 1942 designs.
Given the pressure Britain was under at the time I suspect that any design capacity would be spent on ships that were urgently needed, such as escort vessels or possibly looking a bit further ahead assorted landing craft and other support vessels for invasions and the like.
Not saying that some designers might over lunch or a quiet period have thrown around ideas about -"now if we changed this and added that" to an existing design but I doubt they would have the time to do anything formally with their firm's resources behind it. Possibly some napkin sketches exchanged. However doubt there would be anything more.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Aug 14, 2021 13:41:58 GMT
But i was just thinking, we known that naval designers like to design new ships, some are build and some are not, toughed that there might be some designs being follow up of the 1942 designs. Given the pressure Britain was under at the time I suspect that any design capacity would be spent on ships that were urgently needed, such as escort vessels or possibly looking a bit further ahead assorted landing craft and other support vessels for invasions and the like.
Not saying that some designers might over lunch or a quiet period have thrown around ideas about -"now if we changed this and added that" to an existing design but I doubt they would have the time to do anything formally with their firm's resources behind it. Possibly some napkin sketches exchanged. However doubt there would be anything more.
But they did add changes due to the rapid development of carrier-based aircraft and anti-aircraft weapons required modifications to the original design, this lead to the Majestic class which saw here catapult, arrestor cables, and aircraft lifts had to be upgraded to handle faster and heavier aircraft, while the flight deck was reinforced. Improved weapons and radars were fitted, and equipment to perform replenishment at sea was installed. The modifications increased the full-load displacement by 1,500 tons, and the draught by 1 foot 6 inches (0.46 m). This led to the six ships being reclassified as the Majestic class in September 1945. |
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Post by simon darkshade on Aug 14, 2021 14:26:40 GMT
Remember this about 1940s designs: Everything was done by hand. All drawings, all calculations, all associated processes. This was not the age where one could employ a computer to put together a model, but rather, a proper design would take a whole room of several dozen men many weeks to complete.
Now, we know that Britain was at war at this time and was limited in all of her resources. This included draftsmen. As such, even the process of putting together a design beyond the back of a napkin stage rightly mentioned by Steve is a big task.
What designs were being worked on at this point? Without my copy of Vanguard to Trident, it is difficult to be precise, but as of 1943, I can think of
Gallant class destroyers
Daring class destroyers
Neptune class cruisers
Malta class aircraft carriers
Centaur class aircraft carriers
Lion class battleships (1944 iteration)
That doesn't leave a lot of capacity for a new design.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Aug 14, 2021 14:28:04 GMT
Remember this about 1940s designs: Everything was done by hand. All drawings, all calculations, all associated processes. This was not the age where one could employ a computer to put together a model, but rather, a proper design would take a whole room of several dozen men many weeks to complete. Now, we know that Britain was at war at this time and was limited in all of her resources. This included draftsmen. As such, even the process of putting together a design beyond the back of a napkin stage rightly mentioned by Steve is a big task. What designs were being worked on at this point? Without my copy of Vanguard to Trident, it is difficult to be precise, but as of 1943, I can think of Gallant class destroyers Daring class destroyers Neptune class cruisers Malta class aircraft carriers Centaur class aircraft carriers Lion class battleships (1944 iteration) That doesn't leave a lot of capacity for a new design. So no need for light carriers which the Americans are producing like they come out of the assembly belt. |
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Post by simon darkshade on Aug 14, 2021 14:35:51 GMT
No, the Americans only built the one class of light aircraft carriers and they came in the late 1941/early 1942 panic. The Saipans were really the red-headed stepchildren of US carriers, in that they never really fit in. Once the Essex class production line started to show results, there was nothing that a light carrier could bring to the game to justify it.
Light carriers very much ended up as an evolutionary cul de sac.
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