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The Japanese Army, back in WWII, owned 2 aircraft carriers of its very own. These carriers, the Akitsu Maru class, were unique in that they could carry around 27 landing craft, making them predecessors to the amphibious assault ship. Unfortunately, they were unable to allow army aircraft to land on them for whatever reason. My first question-why is this? Were their flight decks just too short? Did they not have certain equipment? What changed could have allowed these carriers to allow aircraft to land and take off, and thus fill a role greater than that of aircraft ferries?

Now for a much more important question-how would these ships affect warship design and/or doctrine? In WWII? Post-war? Would the amphibious assault ship class become prominent at an earlier time than OTL? What kinds of effects could this have?
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