Originally Posted by
Dryce
The proponents of the RN approach would point out that the armoured carriers could take big hits and recover to continue operations without needing to return to a maintenance facility - whereas the likes of the Essexes could take big hits but would be more likely to be forced to retire for repairs.
An objective analysis of the RN vs USN approaches to compromises and tradeoffs is interesting. Both organisations had a lot of smart people.
The big difference was the number of aircraft carried. Essex carried twice the number of aircraft that Illustrious could, which also reflects the operating philosophies of the two navies. As Bing rightly points out, Illustrious was constrained by treaty limits, whereas Essex wasn't.