Here's hoping the days of 'fitted for but not with are over' - in the eye of beholder I guess - how long is a piece of string? I had thought that 'why Oz LDHs retained the ski jump' was stuff of legend now. There are many apocryphal stories I cannot confirm however one explanation proffered online in a few official places is that removing the ski jump (being part of the hull) was not feasible due the cost of redesign and whatnot. Much the same as fitting 'cats 'nFlaps' to the CVFs proved.
The official RAN LHD website lists two missions as opposed to the FOUR on the Spanish Navy LHD website (one of the missing for the RAN is the Spanish 'aircraft carrier' option). FLOG the DMO all you like - they probably deserve it - but - whatever. The RAN LHDs have been internally modified to carry out the two missions specified on the website. I guess I have to go look it up now.
http://www.navy.gov.au/fleet/ships-boats-craft/lhd
"
The ship's roles are to:
- embark, transport and deploy an embarked force (Army in the case of the ADF but could equally be an allied Army or Marines), along with their equipment and aviation units, and
- carry out/support humanitarian missions.
Therefore the requirement is for a
multipurpose ship able to operate in both these roles, but not necessarily simultaneously, owing to the differing configuration requirements."
&
"The ship is a conventional steel mono hull design with the superstructure located on the starboard side of the flight deck..."