WEBF - it's not that I think we can't form a small CBG - we can as you detail
BUT what else will we have left?
We have had serious problems keeping a single T45 in active service over the last two years - and we normaly appear to have only 2 SSN's on patrol at any one time.. we have 2 Fast Fleet tankers and by 2019 4 Tidesprings - supporting the CBG will probably require two out of the 6 available tankers. We're getting "up to 12 " T26's - let's hope for 10 - so maybe 3 on active sduty at one time to replace the T23's - which we kept 4-5 on duty.
A CBG has to train together to be effective and so these ships will be committed for quite a long period
I foresee that a substantial proportion of the Navy - which is already stretched to breaking point - will be tied up around the Carrier and not available for the tasks which are cuurently considered to be required. Something will have to give I'm afraid