This is from another boards, it sums up Eagles' rebuild and does some comparison with Ark.
When Eagle was rebuilt between 1959 and 1964, Her island was completely replaced, primarily as part of a shipwide re organisation of her internal compartments in order to improve their efficiency and better accomodate many of the new systems being installed, including the massive type 984 'Searchlight' radar and it's associated Comprehensive Display System. The electronics of all this kit took up quite a bit of space, as it was pre transistor hence all valve (vacuum tube) technology. She also recieved a Type 965 AKE2 radar abaft the '984 as backup, again hardly a compact piece of kit. It's worth comparing the islands of the two carriers in their final forms, to save time during the refit Ark's original island was retained but the layout internally was insufficient to cope with the new systems (including two type 965 AKE 2s, though in practice only one could be run at any time due to mutual interference!), so the island was extended to starboard over the Alaska Highwayto provide the extra volume needed. Ark's refit was intended to produce the minimum viable carrier for Phantom operations through the 70s and mostly concentrated on her aviation capabilities, like extending her angled deck from 5.5 degrees to 8.5 degrees and installing more powerful catapults and arrestor gear.
Eagle was by far the better platform (984 radar, aft lower hangar refitted into workshops/accommodation, etc. And the wardroom relocated to 4 deck, anteroom in the liftwell - much better than Ark's abomination on 6 deck) and far more reliable, with little or no feedwater problems that plagued Ark, plus other irritating day to day problems.
....get an 8.5° angle added to her flight deck in her 1960-64 modernization... along with a refurbishment of her boilers & turbines, enlarged repair shops for the increasing avionics of modern aircraft, and more powerful catapults & arresting gear! She is also described as having "received new 2.5" flight deck armour".
Add all of this up and you get quite a lot of shitty WW2 steel replaced with good quality 1960s peacetime steel and a lot of effort put into making her a better ship. The Ark just never got any of that below decks work and as a result was stuck with much more wartime shit steel, worn out from years of sitting on the slip and never fixed. The Ark's refit was supposed to only be about 18 months long and get her to 1972, but in the end blew out to 3 years by which time the Conservatives got elected and decided to extender her beyond 1972.
When Eagle was rebuilt between 1959 and 1964, Her island was completely replaced, primarily as part of a shipwide re organisation of her internal compartments in order to improve their efficiency and better accomodate many of the new systems being installed, including the massive type 984 'Searchlight' radar and it's associated Comprehensive Display System. The electronics of all this kit took up quite a bit of space, as it was pre transistor hence all valve (vacuum tube) technology. She also recieved a Type 965 AKE2 radar abaft the '984 as backup, again hardly a compact piece of kit. It's worth comparing the islands of the two carriers in their final forms, to save time during the refit Ark's original island was retained but the layout internally was insufficient to cope with the new systems (including two type 965 AKE 2s, though in practice only one could be run at any time due to mutual interference!), so the island was extended to starboard over the Alaska Highwayto provide the extra volume needed. Ark's refit was intended to produce the minimum viable carrier for Phantom operations through the 70s and mostly concentrated on her aviation capabilities, like extending her angled deck from 5.5 degrees to 8.5 degrees and installing more powerful catapults and arrestor gear.
Eagle was by far the better platform (984 radar, aft lower hangar refitted into workshops/accommodation, etc. And the wardroom relocated to 4 deck, anteroom in the liftwell - much better than Ark's abomination on 6 deck) and far more reliable, with little or no feedwater problems that plagued Ark, plus other irritating day to day problems.
....get an 8.5° angle added to her flight deck in her 1960-64 modernization... along with a refurbishment of her boilers & turbines, enlarged repair shops for the increasing avionics of modern aircraft, and more powerful catapults & arresting gear! She is also described as having "received new 2.5" flight deck armour".
Add all of this up and you get quite a lot of shitty WW2 steel replaced with good quality 1960s peacetime steel and a lot of effort put into making her a better ship. The Ark just never got any of that below decks work and as a result was stuck with much more wartime shit steel, worn out from years of sitting on the slip and never fixed. The Ark's refit was supposed to only be about 18 months long and get her to 1972, but in the end blew out to 3 years by which time the Conservatives got elected and decided to extender her beyond 1972.