[tanknetter]

As an 18 y/o, I was assigned to the USS FDR (CVA-42) in the V-2 Catapults Div. The ship (sister to the Midway and Coral Sea) was over 900 ft. It was designed for a crew of around 3800-4000, but with our air squadrons onboard we were over 5000. ..........The Brits intend to run a similarly sized carrier with only about 700 crew???

I joined the ship when in the shipyard for updating, so learned my way around the ship pretty quickly. I can’t even wrap my head around the idea that the Brits think they have to provide cell phone apps to help the twits find their way around their own ship!!!!

My recollection is that the Midways were the hardest of the US carriers to learn how to get around inside of. Built from the lessons of lost carriers early in WWII, they were built with offset compartmentalization - there were no long starboard and port passage ways running the length of the ship.

In looking at the QEs and their ships-companies of <700, I really have to wonder how they plan to do effective damage control if the ship takes a hit, something that takes a lot of bodies.

[cva66snipe]

In looking at the QEs and their ships-companies of <700, I really have to wonder how they plan to do effective damage control if the ship takes a hit, something that takes a lot of bodies.

Yea automated or not I think that idea will come back to haunt them. You have to plan for mass causalities of both crew and equipment. 600 - 700 hundred IIRC was about the size of our Engineering Department.