[tanknetter]

From what I’ve read, the air-crew and support staff add another 1,000 to the size of the crew. My guess is that if the carrier took a hit and air operations were disabled, these people would probably be free to help with damage control etc.

Still, you're talking about 1700 total crew aboard. Yes, I know that the philosophy of both the RN and the USN is that EVERYONE does DC, but keep in mind that Yorktown (CV-5), which was a little less than half the QEs' displacement, was lost at Midway with about 2100 crew. Hornet (CV-8), a modified Yorktown, was lost at Santa Cruz with about 3000 crew.

The truth is that, like with handguns and parachutes, if you don't have enough crew to do DC when you NEED to do DC, chances are you'll never have to worry about having enough crew again ...

[ken5050]

Well said, my friend..I was shocked when I read the expected crew size. MY first thought was damage control..who’s gonna do it..also..the CVs of WW II did not face the ship-killing missiles of today..