Originally Posted by
tartare
While looking at Chinese type 04 drawings - a question occurred to me.
Why are carrier Islands always on the starboard side?
I asked chatgpt if any carriers had port-side islands, and the lying thing tried to tell me the Charles de Gaulle, Cavatour and Foch all had portside islands.
Corrected it quick smart.
But the question remains.
Does it date back to the days when stuff was loaded from port side?
Therefore you wouldn't want a bleedin' great piece of superstructure in the way?
I think we should be told...
Chat GPT is an over confident idiot, however there were two Japanese carriers, Hiryu and Akagi, with islands on the wrong side. I think the idea was to operate in formation with left and right hand circuits respectively but whatever the reason it wasn't successful and future carriers were based on the Hiryu but with the island on the correct side. Which then weren't built due to events developing not necessarily to Japan's advantage.