As usual an excellent post which answers lots of questions and on the Centaur they would flash up the senior boiler room whenever the ship went to flying stations although it could be suggested that this extra oommphh also helped to get a few extra miles per hour. Are you convinced a boiler of that weight would suffice? (polite question)
As you rightly point out ALL conventional carriers have steam catapults but these are fed off of either huge diesel fired boilers or nuclear felled units.
My comment about EMALS being self contained was based on what you had previously discussed but it could well be me misunderstanding what you were saying. Having large generators low down in the ship makes far, far mores sense and something I had always thought would have been the better option.
I agree that it looks like the government was ALWAYS leaning toward a STOVL aircraft which always meant no decent AWAC, no refelling capability, no COD and a reliance on a submarine escort for a decent ASW shield??
Could it be that there was no real understanding of carrier capability or were those with the knowledge never consulted?
I accept we can say we have no money and cannot afford this capital ship but that is a separate argument. If we want carriers then should we have premiership players and not something out of the Conference league. It is a half hearted pot mess that has a short shelf life!! What will replace this latest STOVL aircraft?
Can this ship ever operate without shore based air support? (polite question)