1933
The RN gets back control of the RNAS from the RAF . The admiralty immediately put plans into play. They contact the fairey aviation company about building a new fighter and a new torpedo-bomber-recon planes.
At the same time the plans for a dedicated carrier build is put to tender. Cammel laird in Liverpool gets the contact to build three 25 000 tonne aircraft carriers capable of carrying up to 65 aircraft in one large hanger .
Given the treaty in effect at the time those new orders would be 135000t/6 = 22500t or 135000t/5 = 27000t (preferable). The USN showed that you could add non-standard displacement for torpedo protection and air defence while still honouring the agreement. Up to 30,000t plus fuel and water? An Essex class?
More likely that more than one yard would get an order. Denny's shipyard off the lower Clyde at Dumbarton would offer early welding and water test tank design. As long as these ships start to the same spec, yards had a lot of leeway on how they turned out. The mid July 1943 Malta class orders were to four yards:
Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Co.,
Govan, Scotland
Vickers-Armstrong, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
John Brown & Co., Clydebank
Cammell Laird, Birkenhead
(then Harland and Wolff, Belfast, Northern Ireland)
The mid war order for something 850ft+ long at the water could only be placed in a few places. Given British Empire dry dock limitations a spec for 850ft at the water is probably a firm limitation.
I wonder if you could have centre-line deck lifts at each end of the main, upper, hanger that also service third length service and storage hangers below? The third of a main hanger in between would allow extra height for the boiler and machinery spaces. This might compensate for the length limit. Although hanger height would struggle to exceed 17ft. The taller overall structure than the Midway class offers a drier sea-keeping.
Always fun to limit bunker and aircraft fuel storage to save volume for other requirements. This creates a need for a fleet of RAS support vessels that make a great template for HMS Unicorn and Light/Escort Carriers.