Hangar Bay, Cargo Hold & Steerage Cargo

[fredtheobviouspseudonym]

Originally Posted by Humabout

Yeah, that's sort of what I was thinking, Vicky, but I wasn't sure if it'd be abusive, since you could build a carrier that keeps all of its fighters clamped outside, jumps into a battlefield, and launches all of its ships in a single combat turn. There would be drawbacks, like servicing the fighters, and targeting them directly while they're still attached. . .

There is a "wet navy" precedent.

During the mid-years of World War II the British built what they called "merchant aircraft carriers." This was a fully-operational merchant ship (usually a somewhat fast one -- c. 12 kts loaded, fast for the time) with a flight deck built on top. There were very limited fuel facilities and (IIRC) to service the aircraft you set up a fabric "hangar" on the flight deck.

The ship would carry 3 to 4 Swordfish biplanes, adequate for a minimal air search around a convoy.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_aircraft_carrier for more detail.

An "escort carrier" (CVE in USN parlance) was different -- it carried no cargo, had considerably more aviation fuel, ordnance load, and aircraft control facilities (not to mention AA guns, etc.) and had a hangar under the flight deck that could accommodate most of its aircraft for maintenance or simple protection from the elements. They usually carried 18 to 24 aircraft.