Jimlad1 said:
"That said, if you look at it, Eagle wasnt back in service till 64 (carrying 30 Jets), by which point Centaur was down to just Sea Vixens (9 of them) and Hermes was carriyng about 20 jets. I cant find figures for Vic. Even so, we're still only looking at a full on seagoing force of about 60 jets, with at least one CV in Singapore, and the rest in the UK or elsewhere. Some great aircraft were embarked, but things like Sea Hawks and Scimitars were not great designs, with no radars and limited capability, even compared to their peers. "
Just as well there were no Sea Hawks in frontline RN service after december 1960, and for the period in question (mid 60s) the Scimitar was already transitioning to second line duties, four airframes serving as buddy tankers aboard Eagle with 800B flight and another sixteen with 803 NAS aboard Ark Royal as the last (as well as first back in 58) frontline Scimitar strike sqn. 764 NAS was in the process of training up civvy pilots to fly some scimitars for FRU (later known as FRADU), taking over from some of the few remaining Sea Hawks. So the FAA frontline sqns were at this time mostly flying with radar equipped Sea Vixens in the AD role and radar equipped Buccaneers, the latter aircraft surpassing most of their peers (land based or otherwise!). 30 or so jets might not seem a lot, but they are always preferrable to none. The range of tasks covered was quite respectable too. Eagle operated between 1964 and 1972 an air group of 12 Sea Vixens for AD (secondary ground attack capability), 14 Bucaneers (10 strike, 2 recce and 2 tankers), 5 Gannets (4 AEW, 1 COD) six Wessex (later Sea Kings for ASW) and two more Wessex for SAR. Ark's air group was basically similar substituting Phantoms for Sea Vixens. Victorious and Hermes had air groups of the same composition but fewer numbers (mainly deficient in Buccaneers compared to Eagle) and Centaur was kept on to fill in for the carrier in long term refit in the period. None of these carriers and their air groups could compare to the USN CVs then or now, but they were very capable in their own right and could make a real difference when they turned up off a hostile shore.
Then as now, the Carrier was and is an integrated weapons system, not a floating airfield. The latter term denigrates it's potential, as it implies the ship is just there to launch and recover aircraft, refuelling and rearming them ready for the next sortie. That's only part of what carriers do despite appearances. It may be stating the obvious but it has to be said, retaining the corporate skills at all levels from the deck handlers, chockheads, fighter controllers, and all other trades will be essential for regenerating carrier capability. Sending personnel through the USN pipeline is a given but has to go hand in hand with retaining an active RN carrier (Lusty and Ocean) for the next few years. Periodic embarkation of allied nations Harriers will provide the necessary realistic practical experience. Something I a sure the RN will be pushing for in the next few years