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The Panagaean Navy was all set to lay down another pair of 'super' carriers when the war broke out. The problem was that those carriers laid down in 1939 would not be available for fleet duties till at least 1943 and more likely 1944 with other priorities being put in front of them. 1939 and the only war was in Europe, tens of thousands of miles away. To get useable aircraft carriers in a short period of time would be smaller ships of cruiser size that could be used for escort duties as well as fleet duties. Size matters, and the Admiralty figured on ships somewhere between 650-700 feet and 80-84 breadth, with a speed of about 28-30 knots. An aircraft complement of between 40-50. Broad strokes that needed to be whittled down to produce the half dozen ships that would make up the class.
Ok, Ok, that sort of grew and grew. Maybe I should have called it the Pinocchio class. But I am happy with how it turned out. Two hangar levels for the maximum amount of aircraft for its size. There was very little armour protection and armament, everything was put toward aircraft complement. During construction the ship was fitted with anti-torpedo bulges to give the ship some protection from mines and torpedoes and some added stability. Carrier losses tended to be by torpedo, let in some water and capsizing took place soon after. Laid down in pairs in 1939, 1940, 1941, with completion dates 3-4 years later. With the end of the war, Panagaea divests itself of 85% of its Navy by 1950, either scrapped or sold. Only the last two Nut class are kept the other four being sold off to other countries. Panagaea would also keep the two Paladin class and that would be the aircraft carrier fleet for the next 40 years. No new ships were built - just refit the old ones. The refits kept on coming. During the 1950's, an angled deck was fitted. All minor AA weapons removed and replaced with mk-5 40mm twin mountings and the 4" replaced with twin 3"/70 automatic guns. 1978-80 is the last major refit which converts the two ships to be Harrier carriers with ski jump forward. Same refit the 3" are removed and replaced with Supercat AA missiles.
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1982 and a request for assistance from Great Britain is received to help retake the Falklands Islands. The one Paladin class in service and the two Hazel class carriers with escorts are sent. The Paladin still has Phantoms and Buccaneers aboard and these aircraft are used for surgical strikes against the Argentine air bases and their facilities, knocking out the aircraft and magazines. The Harriers protected the Fleet and also made surgical strikes against land targets on the Islands themselves to knock out Argentinian strong points. None of the Panagaean ships were damaged.
Just to give an idea of size, the HMS Hermes was about 15-20 feet bigger but was narrower and only had one hangar deck.
