Biggus -
Are you advocating the return of troopships of the maritime variety? I can just picture convoys sailing along the Med......decks crowded with seasick soldiers.
Might even give the Navy a "raison d'etre" and a case for funding a new generation of convoy escorts! Plus jobs in the shipyards, if we have any left that is, (the dockyard workers were always a safe vote as far as the "Old" Labour party was concerned) mind you, it might also make a few ex pats feel proud at the sight of a White Ensign as the sail past.
O, for an Empire.....
MB