Originally Posted by glojo
Sacrifices were made by the Royal Navy to allow the purchase of these carriers, the numbers of destroyers was decimated and
are we now seeing RFAs carrying out the role that we expect of a warship?
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Not entirely but more often than one would wish. The RN was able to spare the T23 frigate HMS Northumberland for CTF 151 earlier this year for at least some of her deployment:
Interestingly, the first article above states that MPA coverage was provided by a Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force aircraft, possibly one of its 80 (?!) P-3Cs.