Malta-class aircraft carrier
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Malta |
| Operators: |
 Royal Navy
|
| Preceded by: | Audacious class |
| Succeeded by: | Centaur class |
| Planned: | 4 |
| Cancelled: | 4 |
| General characteristics (Design X1) | |
| Type: | Aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | |
| Length: | |
| Beam: | 115 ft 6 in (35.2 m) |
| Draught: | 35 ft (10.7 m) (deep load) |
| Installed power: |
|
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 33.25 knots (61.58 km/h; 38.26 mph) |
| Range: | 7,100 nmi (13,100 km; 8,200 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Complement: | 3,500 |
| Armament: |
|
| Armour: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 80–108 |
| Aviation facilities: | 2 catapults |
The Malta-class aircraft carrier was a British large aircraft carrier design of World War II. Four ships were ordered in 1943 for the Royal Navy, but changing tactical concepts, based on American experience in the Pacific War, caused repeated changes to the design, which was not completed before the end of the war. All four ships were cancelled in 1945 before they were laid down.
In July 1942 the Royal Navy formed the Future Building Committee, chaired by the Deputy First Sea Lord, to examine the fleet's requirements for the rest of the war. Tasked with anticipating the Navy's readiness and requirements for January 1944, the committee realised that a major expansion of naval aviation was required, which meant that more aircraft carriers would be needed. Many factors combined to drive up the size of these new carriers, notably the increasing size and speed of aircraft and the desire to increase the numbers of aircraft aboard fleet carriers. Another important consideration was the change in carrier tactics from the earlier doctrine of more attacks with smaller numbers of aircraft to the use of large, single airstrikes.
Sir Stanley V. Goodall, Director of Naval Construction (DNC), proposed a variety of designs, both open and closed hangar. On 8 October 1943, the Board of Admiralty selected a closed-hangar design with an armoured flight deck and five propeller shafts. Reports of American operations in the Pacific convinced the Board to reconsider hangar design; American experience had shown that the ability to fly off all of a carrier's aircraft in a single airstrike was vital. That required a well-ventilated, open-hangar design, which would reduce the time required to launch the aircraft by allowing them to begin the typical 15-minute engine warm-up while still in the hangar. On 15 May 1944, the Board reversed itself and ordered the DNC to produce an open-hangar design with deck-edge lifts. An unarmoured flight deck was agreed upon in June by the Controller of the Navy and the Fifth Sea Lord.
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