Just_Another_Jockey wrote
It's the selective facts that trouble me. You can say "wait 48 hours to launch a few Stormshadows....", but you then assume the carrier is in place and not on another gin cruise around tropics. I think we should all try and stop these selective truths and leave Sharkey to corner the market in them.
Yes the carrier would probably be in place. Whilst the politicos are talking, a carrier can be off the coast having being diverted from (it's admittedly nicer-sounding) Gin Cruise to loiter off the said coast (known as poise in military-speak I think).
Something like:
Hague: David, there seems to be a bit of bother in North Africa.
PM: OK, well while we see what happens we'll send CVS/CVF to the Med, they can carry on training there (not needing to rotate back to the UK every 2 months) and we'll see how it pans out.
Hague: Good idea PM, that allieviates the need for HNS, although the French and Italians are still quite friendly.
Although this conversation probably didn't happen, re-deploying ships around the world to potential conflict zones happens on a regular basis. These deployments can be covert or overt depending on the effect that the UK wants to achieve.
This post is not in any way knocking the GR4/Jet boys, (although I second the point that destroying 2 tanks in an abandoned tank park using a GR4 to designate is not exactly combat-proven A-G capability) but about the flexibility, endurance and efficiency of a self-sufficient carrier-based task force.