I'm just saying...What the FRICK is wrong with a nation that has such a proud naval tradition...and your sailors even salute RIGHT compared to the other armed forces (big grin)...and you don't even have real carrier.
We are a mere shadow of our former self
It is a good but very complicated question I reckon,some possible reasons...
(1).We can afford real carriers but we choose (or our guvmints choose !) to waste taxpayers money on other things such as the EU and paying layabouts to do SFA !
(2).The RAF do not want the Navy to have REAL carriers with REAL a/c on them,historically they have told big porkies to ensure the RN do not gain control of naval aviation.
(3).Unfortunately/fortunately stovl got us out of the crap during the falklands war and so is seen as a winner - when of course it was our lads (dark and light blue together) making the best of what they had to operate with (as usual)!
(4).As others have said before...if we had 2 REAL carriers in 1982 the argies would never have taken us on...
(5).Then of course we have our one and only large defence contractor with fingers in ALL of our defence pies...which sometimes muddies the waters LOL...you really could not make it up !!
I have worked with both the RAF and the Navy and do not have any axes to grind but I honestly believe that the F35 is just a political a/c...The way people talk about Cats and traps on here is astounding...like it is rocket science for deck crews to learn how to cope with cats and arrester wires etc.
It seems bizarre to waste such a large carrier on this 'cul de sac' aircraft,never mind the weapons systems...I would be more worried about more basic stuff like structural integrity and systems reliability.
rgds LR