Linoleum wood decks

The only time I have used a PE deck was in a Pontos set for the USS Reuben James, and it worked great. In fact, I like it better than the wood decks I have used, simply because wood decks, even in 1/350, seem a little thick when you see them on areas where there are cutouts for deck fittings. Even so, I am likely to use a wood deck on some upcoming 1/350 builds, especially for WWII battleships, with all their gun tubs.

I guess I don't understand something here.  Linoleum and wood are too different materials.  Are we talking about decks made of wood that simulate linoleum?  Why is a deck of wood simulating linoleum better than the styrene deck of a kit?

Are the PE decks simulating wood etched to show the lines between boards?  That I can understand.

I was puzzled too. Here's what I came up with.

Going from the Maya reference, "Flyhawk" who I only hear good things about, makes a 1/700 replacement deck for the Aoshima model of that particular ship.

The deck looks like the IJN decks I've seen on models of their "smaller" surface vessels, where the deck is a dark red linoleum with brass straps criss-crossing it and holding everything together.

Here's a build of another kit at the same scale, in this case Pit Road.

http://steelnavy.com/PitroadMayaCM.htm

I predict success here.

I guess i should not have said "wood decks" for a Japanese cruiser. I know they weren't wood. I should have said aftermarket decks. I'll check out some of the PE decks. I'm building the Fujimi Maya, but hopefully I can find some aftermarket goodies.