Originally Posted by
tdracer
The lack of armor on the deck of the US carriers was a conscious design decision. Armoring the flight deck would have sharply reduced hangar deck space and hence the number of aircraft the carrier could carry. So the decision was made to armor the hangar deck instead. The result was the US Essex class carriers had a much bigger punch, but it left them with a bit of a glass jaw.
Given that no Essex class carriers were ever sunk by enemy action, it doesn't appear to have been a terrible tradeoff.
My understanding is that the Royal Navy operating in the Mediterranean would have had much greater exposure to land-based aircraft. Hence the armoured flight deck. Fortuitously it also worked against Kamikaze in the Pacific as well.
Either way , Midway goes down in history as one of THE most decisive battles in history.
Along with Coral Sea and the Guadalcanal Campaign it stopped Japan dead in its tracks.
Lest we forget.