Naval History Forums

And the US carrier Midway does not count

Just list your top 5 carriers and why, and limit the answers to one class (i.e. cannot say Hornet, Enterprise and Yorktown as 3 carriers )

The Illustrious class comprised four vessels: HM Ships Illustrious, Formidable, Victorious and Indomitable-one short I'm afraid

That's impossibly limiting. Wouldn't they all have to be Essex Class?

The Essex class would count as one - just like I mentioned you could not say Enterprise, Yorktown and count each as one - the Yorktown class would also count as one.

The Essex class would be my top one too though.

My top 5

1) Essex Class - Could carry a great number of planes, decent speed.
2a) Shokaku Class - Decent plane complement, very fast, very survivable (due to thick armored main deck)
2b) Yorktown class- Carried a lot of planes
4) Implacable Class - A bit low in aircraft, but had the armored flight deck
5) Taiho - Very Good complement for a armored flight deck carrier. Would be rated higher but had some design flaw issues that perhaps made it less surviveable.

Just would like to add one thing - the US increased air complement had much to do with doctrine as well, the deck park would have added to the air complement of Jpanese carriers.

I might add one thing I liked about the US carriers was the open hangar design, making them more survivable.

For me being British it has to be: 1- HMS Ark royal the first true aircraft carrier of any navy
2- Illustrious class carriers , the armoured decks and hangers meant that you would need one hell of a bomb to sink them
3-Implacable class carriers , bigger versions of the illustrious class carriers and very capable in the pacific theatre if it lasted longer
4-Essex class carriers, the perfect balance of speed,range and fire power to be used in the pacific
5-Audacity class escort class carriers , very useful for convoy duty in the battle of the atlantic