The two ships of the Grand Admiral Weddell Class started off as units five and six of the General Albanon Class. So many changes were made to the original design that the two ships were made a separate class. Trials with the first prototype jets for the Navy showed that a new set of concepts were required for the construction of any new aircraft carrier construction designed to handle jets. It was the landing speed of the jets that caused the biggest problems. The jets needed experienced pilots to get them anywhere near landing in the correct zones. Many hours were spent working out how this could be overcome. The end result was the first 'angled' landing on deck. This would allow a 'bad' landing to spool up the engine(s) and take off straight ahead on a clear deck, to go around and try again, rather than disappearing into the crash net and becoming a write off.



The angled deck was one of many innovations fitted to the Weddell Class. A new automatic twin 3"/L70 gun system tied to a full set of radar systems for targeting and delivery. The new system was much more accurate and delivered a much better knock down rate. Just the six twin turrets on the Weddell's were capable of more 'kills' than the 80 odd 40mm on the Albanon class. The next innovation was the deck edge lift on the starboard aft quadrant. This replaced the centreline lift that now had the angle deck running through it. The forward centreline lift was retained as it served the purpose of delivering ready aircraft to the catapults for launching. It was also in the perfect position to strike down aircraft that had just landed on. The large area between the lifts and the bridge superstructure was used for a deck park for ready aircraft. This took away some of the crowding on the hangar deck with so many flight operations that could be taking place at one time.

The acceptance trials over, the two ships had just three months to make an impact on the Pacific War.

 

Displacement	37,000 tons standard, 44,000 tons full load
Length	809 ft
Breadth	116 ft hull (142 ft over sponsons) (175 feet over angled deck.
Draught	32 ft
Machinery	4 shaft, steam turbines, 160,000shp
Speed	30 knots
Range	12000 miles at 14 knots
Armour	3" side, 5.5" deck
Armament	As completed 12 x 3" auto (6x2) 4 x 40mm (2x2)
Aircraft	78
Complement	2450/2500
Notes	Grand Admiral Weddell Prime Senator Churchill

There were a few minor cosmetic differences between the II and the III series aircraft.
The tailplane was clipped, the wing tips were squared off, but the major difference was
in the uprated Merlin engine adding 30mph to the top speed. Wing root hard points for
drop tanks increased the range even more. The armament was increased in line with
the other aircraft, the four 20mm cannons being replaced with 30mm cannons.



The Whirlwind III was retained on the Weddell class as it had the speed and range to be
able to escort the torpedo bombers to their target(s) which the shorter ranged Wasp
was unable to do. It was not until the next generation of jet aircraft that these problems
would be solved.