Is it me or did Roosevelt get the same sort of half arsed refit as the Ark Royal, shortening her working life by decades?
Yes and no. It was half assed, but for entirely different reasons. The UK half-assed Ark Royal's refit to try and save money. The USN did it to FDR to make sure she would retire early and Congress couldn't use her as an excuse to not fund another Nimitz
Different aim, but same reason. Politics.
Neither.
It was half-arsed because of a shortage of money. There were two reasons for the shortage of money. Reason one was the Vietnam War which consumed money that would otherwise have been spent on major refits and new ships. Reason two was that Midway's major refit took longer and cost more than expected. It was much the same as what happened with the British armoured carriers in the 1950s. That is the planned refits of Implacable and Indefatigable were cancelled because the refit of Victorious took longer than expected and cost more than expected.
Back in the 1950s Midway and FDR were fitted with steam catapults and an angled flight deck in a refit called SCB.110 and both refits were authorised in FY1954. Coral Sea's refit wasn't approved until FY1957 and was even more extensive that the ones carried out on her sisters, which is why it was called SCB.110A. All 3 refits were carried out at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard as follows:
23/04/54 to 06/04/56 Franklin D. Roosevelt - I have a note that it cost $48 million.
28/06/55 to 01/10/57 Midway
24/05/57 to 25/01/60 Coral Sea
In the middle of the 1960s both Midway and FDR were to have a further major refit designated SCB.101 to bring both ships to an even higher standard than Coral Sea.
Midway's refit was approved in FY1966 which is why it was called SCB.101.66. It was planned to take 2 years (1966-68) and cost $88 million. FDR's refit was to be approved in FY1968 which is why it was called SCB.101.68. Midway was refitted at San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard. I don't know, but my guess is that FDR was to be refitted at San Francisco too. This is because it was to have started in 1968 which is when Midway's refit was due to be completed.
Midway's refit began on 11th February 1966 but instead of being completed in February 1968 it ran on until 31st January 1970. In addition to taking twice as long as planned the cost of the refit went up from $88 million to $202 million.
The doubled length and more than doubled cost of Midway's refit meant that FDR's SCB.101 refit wasn't carried out. Instead she had a much less extensive refit at Norfolk Naval Shipyard that lasted from July 1968 to 26th May 1969 at a cost of $46 million.
If Midway's SCB.101 refit had been completed on time and on cost FDR would have been refitted 1968-70 to the same standard.
I don't know if there were any plans to bring Coral Sea up to SCB.101 standard. Roger Chesneau said that she was fitted with 3 C11 steam catapults in her 1957-60 refit and that her lifts were capable of handling 75,000lbs each. However, as part of her 1966-70 refit Midway had her 3 C11 steam catapults replaced by 2 C13 units and new lifts capable of handling 100,000lbs were fitted. Therefore my guess is that it was planned to bring Coral Sea up to SCB.101 standard before Midway's refit went
Pete Tong.
Chesneau (writing in 1984) said that in 1977 Coral Sea was mainly employed as a training carrier, but from 1979 had been used as a back-up carrier, while her more modern successors were undergoing refit. He also wrote that plans to use her as a permanent training carrier, in place of Lexington (AVT-16), had been shelved, and that she was to be retained as a full CV through the 1980s. Finally he wrote that a short refit in 1978-79 improved her air group facilities, but that she could not handle F-14s, "which limits her value at present."
I think it's also worth pointing out that in the middle of the 1960s the first 3 Nimitz class CVAN were planned to be completed 1971-75 and replace the remaining SCB.27C Essex class employed in the CVA role and that in 1975 there would be 15 attack carriers completed since 1945 in service. That is 12 super carriers and the 3 Midways. However, in 1975 all 3 Midways would be 30 or nearly 30 so that another 3 CVAN would have to be completed 1975-80 to replace them. These would be 3 additional Nimitz class or a new CVAN design.