Malta-class aircraft carrier

The Malta-class aircraft carrier was a British large fleet aircraft carrier design of World War II. Inspired by the strike capability of United States Navy 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. 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 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 Midway-class aircraft carriers, and were to be slightly larger at 897 ft in length overall and 115 ft at the beam. It was predicted that each ship would displace 47,350 tonnes at standard load, and 56,800 tonnes at full load, with draughts of 29 ft and 34 ft 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 lb in weight, at speeds of up to 75 kn, while the two hydraulic aircraft catapults could launch fully laden aircraft at 130 kn. The armoured flight deck, while seen as a necessity in the context of Japanese kamikaze attacks, was, at 4 in, 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:

HMS Africa was ordered as an Audacious class carrier from Fairfield, Govan in July 1943 but re-ordered as a Malta class carrier in 1944, then cancelled in October 1945.