Originally Posted by
SLXOwft
Clearly the French are not sold on the 'benefits' of the two island design. They are however willing to accept the additional costs of sticking to nuclear power and CATOBAR; Also 25% higher crew numbers than QNLZ & POW (assuming the '2000 marins' includes the airgroup).
You don't need two islands for a nuke as there's no trunking for the gas turbines. On the QE Class there was a given amount of space taken up by that so the choice was one big island or two small ones. Without that requirement you can pretty much do what you want as long as it holds up the radars and has room for everyone who needs to see out.