According to the MOD's website, the new CVF carriers for the Royal Navy will be approximately 65,000 tonnes and carry 40 aircraft. The website also says that the US carriers weigh 90,000 tonnes and carry 90 aircraft, France's Charles de Gaulle weighs 45,000 tonnes and carrys 40 aircraft and the Invincible Class carriers weigh 20,000 tonnes and carry 22 aircraft. My question to people is this: why are the CVF carriers planned to carry so few aircraft in relation to their size. The others seem to carry approximately 1 aircraft for every thousand tonnes, but the CVFs are way off this ratio? Is it a case of they're planned to carry relatively few aircraft for normal operations, but they can be overloaded (up to approx 65 aircraft) during war time? |