ESSEX class carriers had 5 inch 38s fore and aft of the island, and the first thing they discovered was you couldn't fire one of them things if any airplane was anywhere on the flight deck since the concussion would damage them. Subsequent designs moved the main batteries down to sponsons alongside the hull at hangar deck level and size was restricted to 5 inch 54s (later replaced with CWIS and Sea Sparrow missiles). Even if it were practical to build something like that it wouldn't be practical to operate, 18 inch batteries firing over the flight decks would damage any aircraft down below on the hangar deck, no matter how many tiedowns you used on each airplane the shock alone would damage airframes. Fly off all the aircraft before firing the big guns and the concussion would still wreck the landing surface, arresting gear, and elevators making it impossible to operate as an aircraft carrier afterwards. Better design would be a flight deck in the middle with battleship hulls and guns outboard, preferably at a lower level.
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