The Malta class aircraft carrier was a British large fleet aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

 design of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Inspired by the strike

Airstrike

An air strike is an attack on a specific objective by military aircraft during an offensive mission. Air strikes are commonly delivered from aircraft such as fighters, bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters, and others...

 capability of United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 aircraft carriers, the Malta design took onboard several American innovations in hangar design and aircraft operations. Three ships were ordered in 1943 for the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. However, design work on the class was not completed before the end of the war, and all three ships were cancelled before construction started.

Design

The Maltas were designed with the strike

Airstrike

An air strike is an attack on a specific objective by military aircraft during an offensive mission. Air strikes are commonly delivered from aircraft such as fighters, bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters, and others...

 role in mind, as British carriers in service at the time were unable to field the same quantity of aircraft, or launch and recover them at similar rates, to carriers of the United States Navy. The ships were designed along similar lines to the American s, and were to be slightly larger at 897 feet (273.4 m) in length overall and 115 in 9 in (35.28 m) at the beam

Beam (nautical)

The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...

. It was predicted that each ship would displace

Displacement (ship)

A ship's displacement is its weight at any given time, generally expressed in metric tons or long tons. The term is often used to mean the ship's weight when it is loaded to its maximum capacity. A number of synonymous terms exist for this maximum weight, such as loaded displacement, full load...

 47,350 tonnes at standard load, and 56,800 tonnes at full load, with draughts of 29 in 6 in (8.99 m) and 34 in 6 in (10.52 m) respectively. Eight boilers and geared steam turbines would have supplied 200000 shp for propulsion; this was to be distributed to four or five propeller shafts (the thinking was that a fifth, centerline shaft would have been less susceptible to damage from torpedoes).

There were major design departures from previous British carriers, with an open hangar deck, allowing aircraft to warm up their engines before transferring to the flight deck for launch. The 897 by flight deck allowed multiple aircraft to launch or land simultaneously, and four aircraft lifts (two on the centereline, and two on the deck edges) aided the rapid movement of aircraft around the flight deck. Sixteen arrestor cables would have been capable of catching landing aircraft up to 20000 pounds (9,071.8 kg) in weight, at speeds of up to 75 knots (40.8 m/s), while the two hydraulic aircraft catapult

Aircraft catapult

An aircraft catapult is a device used to launch aircraft from ships—in particular aircraft carriers—as a form of assisted take off. It consists of a track built into the flight deck, below which is a large piston or shuttle that is attached through the track to the nose gear of the aircraft, or in...

s could launch fully laden aircraft at 130 knots (70.8 m/s). The armoured flight deck, while seen as a necessity in the context of Japanese kamikaze

Kamikaze

The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....

 attacks, was, at 4 inches (101.6 mm), thinner than other British carriers. Between the hangar spaces and the deck park, the Malta class design would have been capable of carrying up to 80 aircraft.

Ordering and cancellation

Although the design was still being finalised, three ships were ordered in July 1943. The design was continually revised until the end of the war, when the order for the ships was suspended. All were cancelled by the end of 1945, although it is unclear if the lead ship, HMS Malta was laid down before the cancellation.

Ships in class

There were to be three ships:

Name	Assigned builder
HMS Malta (D93)	John Brown & Company John Brown & Company John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a pre-eminent Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm, responsible for building many notable and world-famous ships, such as the , the , the , the , the , and the... , Clydebank Clydebank Clydebank is a town in West Dunbartonshire, in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, Clydebank borders Dumbarton, the town with which it was combined to form West Dunbartonshire, as well as the town of Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire, and the Yoker and...	21 December 1945
HMS New Zealand (D43)	Cammell Laird Cammell Laird Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co. of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century.- Founding of the business :The Company... , Birkenhead Birkenhead Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...	21 December 1945
HMS Gibraltar (D68)	Vickers-Armstrong, Newcastle-upon-Tyne	5 November 1945

External links

• Hazegray.org