Originally Posted by
Tay Cough
Outsider question:
Can both carriers put to sea at the same time with escorts and a full complement of crew and aircraft?
Is there a foreseeable need for them to do so or is the plan always to have one in refit?
Two Carriers are necessary to ensure one is available to deploy at all times, but there will be a significant amount of overlap in availability so that it will be possible to deploy both for short periods. Both ships will have full crew complements assigned permanently, it seems some believed for several years that when one carrier returns from a six month deployment for example the crew would march off that ship and man the other, taking it straight back to sea with no shore leave. QE has a full crew, PoW has more than half her full crew already and with the paying off of Ocean sufficient Sailors have been released into the manpower pool to fill the rest of her manning requirements.
When deployed, the plan is to escort the carrier with two T45s, two T23s (later two T26s), an Astute class SSN and a Tide class tanker plus another RFA. If the second carrier is deployed, it would depend on how many other escorts were available but in such a case plenty of warning would be needed anyway so generating one or two T45s plus the frigates, an SSN and the RFAs shouldn't be beyond reason. The sticking point would be the aircraft.
Some postulate that one carrier would have the strike role and the other would be sent as an LPH. I think it more likely and more sensible to split the available aircraft evenly between the two, so each would have a sqn of F-35Bs, a Sqn of Merlins for ASW and AEW, then a force of Commandos and their support helos (Merlins and Chinooks), avoiding the 'all eggs in one basket scenario beloved of so many round these parts. Again a two carrier deployment would be a short term deal and this has always been part of the plan, though aircraft availability (mainly referring to the Lightnings) means this won't be possible until the early 2020s after the second Lightning sqn (809NAS) has stood up.