The US navies plan to finish the last to Iowa Class Battleships as sub-par Essex Class Knockoffs

[kriegerfaust]

Title: "Aircraft Carrier, Converted from BB 61-66 Class"

Description: Photo #: S-511-54 Aircraft Carrier, Converted from BB 61-66 Class Preliminary design plan prepared for the General Board as part of an exploration of carrier conversions of warship hulls then under construction. This plan, dated June 1942, represents the conversion of Iowa class battleship hulls. It would have produced a ship somewhat similar in external appearance to the Essex (CV-9) class, but with lower freeboard, only two aircraft elevators, one catapult, and an 864' long flight deck set well back from the bow. The drawing bears the handwritten notation, dated 12 June 1942, This conversion apparently will not materialize. The original plan is in the 1939-1944 Spring Styles Book held by the Naval History and Heritage Command. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

 

While her construction was suspended, the Bureau of Ships considered an aircraft carrier conversion proposal for Kentucky and Illinois in the aftermath of the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway. As proposed, the converted Kentucky would have had an 864-foot (263 m) long by 108-foot (33 m) wide flight deck, with armament identical to the carriers of the Essex class: four twin 5-inch gun mounts and four more 5-inch guns in single mounts, along with six 40 mm quadruple mounts. The idea was abandoned after the Bureau of Ships decided that the converted ships would carry fewer aircraft than the Essex class, that more Essex-class carriers could be built in the same amount of time, and that the conversion project would be significantly more expensive than new Essexes. Instead, Kentucky and Illinois were to be completed as battleships, but their construction was given very low priority.

Kaga (加賀) was an aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and was named after the former Kaga Province in present-day Ishikawa Prefecture. Originally intended to be one of two Tosa-class battleships, Kaga was converted under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty to an aircraft carrier as the replacement for the battlecruiser Amagi, which had been irreparably damaged during the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. Kaga was rebuilt in 1933–1935, increasing her top speed, improving her exhaust systems, and adapting her flight decks to accommodate more modern, heavier aircraft.

It would be nice to consider the US possible having a ship with an armored flight deck before the Midway class.  As well as perhaps a more armored hull than any other carrier in the US fleet.  While perhaps inferior to the Essex class with its wider deck and larger number of aircraft the Kentucky class could have added some flavor to the US fleet as the Lexington did.  Perhaps if the war had gone on longer the UK could have been gifted the unfinished hulls to finish as carriers. 

Or if the French had not fallen, they could have added two subpar light carriers to their own fleet in service of the allies, or even after the war to face the looming threat of communism.  Whatever crazy idea more ships is always better always fit's here as we already have some US battleships converted to Battle-carriers in the game.  Multiple nations converted both battleships and battlecruisers into carriers including the Kaga herself, which is already in the game, why not add one more.