The Wartime European Carriers.- ‘Experience with regard to the suitability of the present type of aircraft carrier must still be evaluated. Examination of enemy naval strategy in ocean warfare leads, however, to the clear recognition of the fact that aircraft carriers or cruisers with flight decks for use in warfare in the Atlantic definitely cannot be dispensed with.’—Grossadmiral Erich Raeder, Commander in Chief Kriegsmarine, during a mid-1940 conference with the Fuehrer on matters dealing with the German Navy.