During WWII, the British Royal Navy had very few aircraft carriers. What ingenious plan was thought up to remedy this deficiency?

Hobo

There was a plan to use blocks of ice mixed (I believe) with straw and other chemicals to form the hulls of the carriers. Apparently, as crazy as the idea sounds, the ice formed in this way was actually VERY long lasting in tests. But, I don't know if any prototype carriers were ever constructed out of this material. It's really a fascinating aspect of WWII but an idea that never actually 'flew' (if you'll forgive the pun). Jan 15 03, 11:57 PM

sequoianoir

There was the creation of the 'merchant aircraft carrier' 'A merchant vessel equipped for the dual role of transporting cargo and operating aircraft' Merchant aircraft carriers were normal merchant ships converted by the addition of a flight deck. All vessels were converted from bulk grain or bulk oil vessels, as these ships could be loaded and unloaded with hoses. This avoided the complex problem of how to access cargo spaces through a flight deck. The cargo capacity of these converted vessels was only slightly reduced by this conversion. Typically, merchant aircraft carriers carried six Swordfish aircraft, along with flight crew, maintenance and control personnel. On converted oil tankers the aircraft were kept in a deck park, however in the grain carriers they were stowed below decks in the aft hold. http://www.wwiitechpubs.com/dock/nv-ship-types/nv-ship-types-ftr.html Jan 16 03, 1:07 AM

sequoianoir

Additionally there was the 'catapult aircraft merchant' vessel. 'A merchant vessel equipped with a catapult and fighter aircraft, but with no landing-on or flying-off deck.' Enormous losses were being caused to merchant shipping in the Allied Atlantic and Arctic convoys by bomber aircraft and U-boats. Due to the shortage of aircraft carriers it was not possible to provide air cover to these convoys, and so it was decided to provide a minimum of cover by fitting old Hurricane fighters to selected merchant ships. The fighter was launched by rocket catapult (the rockets were similar to those fired by ground-attack aircraft), and the pilot was expected to either bail out or ditch his aircraft near the convoy, being recovered by the nearest ship. There were only eight occasions where the fighter was launched, resulting in seven enemy aircraft being shot down. One of the CAM pilots was killed. Also http://www.wwiitechpubs.com/dock/nv-ship-types/nv-ship-types-ftr.html Jan 16 03, 1:10 AM