Joe Black
"but the thought of having no "real" ASW/MCT/ASuW/SAR capability completely bamboozles me."
Erm....
ASW - Merlin may not have the range/speed, but it certainly has the capabilities.
MCT - You are having a laugh. loads of superior platforms for all Nimrod MCT tasks.
ASuW - Just remind me how many warships have been sunk by Nimrod. Now how many by the little Lynx?
SAR - No, you do "S". The SeaKing does all the SAR