[Southack]

"It was actually a very good design for an aircraft carrier."

Oh, no. It was enormously top-heavy. It had all of its anti-aircraft guns on the starboard side, too. You would not want to be on it in heavy seas or in a high speed turn (e.g. evading bombs or torpedoes).

One thing that the Germans did right with it, however, was the downward sloping runway threshold. Ski-jump styles from later aircraft carriers completely miss the aerodynamic points (you want increased speed on launch that is obtained by sloping down rather than angling up...and you want the lower, rather than higher, angle when coming in for a landing).

[COEXERJ145]

I didn't say it was perfect. I said it was a good design, especially for a nation that had never built an aircraft carrier before.

[Michael.SF.]

One thing that the Germans did right

As the old joke goes:

In Heaven the Germans are the Engineers, the English are the Police and the French are the Chefs.

In Hell, the French are the Engineers, the Germans are the Police and the English are the Chefs.

[TexasRedeye]

It had all of its anti-aircraft guns on the starboard side, too

Hmmmm, post 35 seems to show guns on the "other" starboard side - known sometimes as the port side. (Or is my naval parlance confused or are those guns not "anti-aircraft" guns?)