Oddly perhaps, there has been too much emotion over the scrapping of
Ark Royal and not enough rational discussion of the problems and risked caused by a ten year period with no fixed wing carrier operations. Nonetheless, Friday was a sad day.
Navy News:
Ark Royal passes into history
According to
this, her axing (three years earlier than planned?) will save £105 million. I would have thought it would have been more. However, we will still have a functioning CVS until 2014, then should have the first CVF..... so embarking jets should still be possible.
Back to the Harrier:
AFM claims that they are still being kept in an airworthy state, pending a decision over what to do with them.
Also see the post by Commodore Scmidlapp (?) on
this page on ARRSE.