[hanamizu]

Well, anybody’s fine ideas are the best they could come up with. The Brits do understand aircraft carriers—during WWII their carriers had steel decks while ours had wood, and I believe the steam catapult is their idea as well. That said, the RN is a pale shadow of what it was and no doubt they have to ‘make do’ with less than what they want.

[tanknetter]

The Brit carriers having armored flightdecks mitigated a lot of combat damage, but it also resulted in a smaller airwing. And, actually, it was the other way around: the RN rec’d very small allotments of aircraft predictable war. So they built ships where the precious aircraft could be better protected since they alone wouldn’t be enough to defend the ship if it were attacked.

The USN didn’t have a dedicated Air Force (like the RAF) restricting the number of aircraft it could buy. So went for the larger airwing which, in theory, would limit the risk of the ship getting hit by taking out any attacker first.

And, while the Brits did come up with the steam catapult, angled deck and fresnel landing system, they also had some real stinkers. Like rubber inflatable decks that allowed wheel-less belly landings.

[MasterGunner01]

Do NOT underestimate the Brits when it comes to the world of carrier aviation. They were the first in carrier aviation. The Royal Navy converted the battle cruiser HMS Furious to carry and launch aircraft (1917); the RN commissioned the world's first dedicated aircraft carrier, HMS Argus, in 1918; the RN installed flight deck armor (1936), but it did not appear in the US Navy until the USS Midway (CV-41) of 1945. The RN developed major aids to naval aviation safety including the mirror landing system on HMS Illustrious and HMS Indomitable in 1954; steam catapult on HMS Perseus in 1950; and angled (or canted) flight deck aboard HMS Centaur in 1954. The RN innovations of the MLS, angled deck, and steam catapult were aided in development in conjunction with the US Navy.

USS Antietam (CV-36) tested a rudimentary sponson for angled deck operations in 1952 and those tests were shared by both navies before HMS Triumph's conversion. Angled deck conversions of USS Essex (CV-9) and USS Midway (CV-41) were approved in 1955. USS Forrestal (CV-59) was the first carrier built with an angled flight deck in 1955.

The Mirror Landing Systems and steam catapults began installation aboard USS Oriskany (CV-34), Midway-class carriers, USS Forrestal (CV-59) and USS Saratoga (CV-60) beginning in 1955.