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The Royal Navy finished the Hermes before the Japanese Hosho was completed. The worlds first two purpose built aircraft carriers. The next pair were the US navy's Ranger and the Panagaean Vindictive. The US ship was used as a trials ship, how much could be built on the least displacement. A small displacement, virtually unarmoured and very lightly built. It had problems throughout its career. One of the reasons the US Navy built the Ranger was that aircraft carriers were a type with tonnage limits for each country. The more you could build for the least amount the better. The Ranger was probably one step too far. But that is real life. The Vindictive is laid down in 1921 and would take five years to build, be trialed, then accepted into the Panagaean Navy. The Panagaean Navy envisioned the Vindictive as a part of the scouting forces with the aircraft being extensions of the vision range of the fleet. That the aircraft might be able to damage an enemy so that the battlefleet could finish it off was thought possible. The Vindictive would need to be fast enough to keep up with the scouting forces. A cruiser/battlecruiser hull form was thought to be best to achieve these speeds. A length to breadth ratio of about 750 feet to 80 feet would give a hull shape that could make the speed requirement.
Many of the innovations and parts of the Formidable were copied across to the Vindictive. The main armament of twin 6" was upgraded to the latest mark, which with a 70 degree elevation was supposed to have an AA capability. The only problem was, no AA shells were ever produced for them. While the twin 6" worked as an armament on the much bigger Formidable, they were too much for the Vindictive and made the ship roll more than it should. Two years after completion the twin 6" were removed and replaced with single 4".
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September 1942 and the Vindictive has survived the initial onslaught of the Japanese. The time has come to upgrade the AA capabilities of the ship. The Dutch destroyer Banckert had escorted one of the damaged Panagaean cruisers to Resolution. While having its own damage repaired, its twin 40mm were reverse engineered and became the standard AA weapon for Panagaean upgrades from about June 1942 onward. Being one of the Blue Ribbon vessels the Vindictive had its AA weapons replaced at its next refit. These weapons were tied to radar predictors which made the guns exceptionally accurate. The air wing was also swapped out. The Griffon, Skua and Sea Battle aircraft types replaced with US Corsair fighters and Avenger torpedo bombers. The Corsair did the duties of both the Griffon and Skua.
