Let's be honest - if someone proposed buying two carriers for the RN today what would be the reaction?
a) We must have them - FULL SPEED AHEAD
b) an embarrassed silence
c) send for the men in white coats.
Unfortunately we've built two carriers that, because we couldn't/wouldn't afford to do the job properly, are based on a compromised design. We can't afford the aircraft to operate from them and they have (or will have) only a very limited AEW capability, no COD capability, We need to borrow ships from other navies to protect them on deployment. Meanwhile the rest of the navy gets smaller and smaller and critical capabilities are wasting away or are deferred to some nebulous future date.
It's a very sad business
