Originally Posted by
Heathrow Harry
"a wide variety of tasks: Carrier Strike, Humanitarian Relief, Non-Combatant Evacuation, Maritime Security, Diplomacy, Promotion of Trade and sometimes, just by being in the right place at the right time,"
Of course the QE's can do all of these things (tho' I'd love to know on what basis we think UK politicians will be able to position them to the right place at the right time ,...) AND they are BIG & VISIBLE - which is important if you'r engaged in gun-boat diplomacy - but maybe not so good in a hot war ....
The point is that everything except Carrier Strike could be handled by cheaper vessels and we could order more of them - say a couple more T45's, 4 more T26's and replacements for Ocean etc
We're in great danger of skewing the RN into one surface role only - the Carrier Strike Group - which will take most of the £££, most of the crews and most of the other surface assets (and some of the SSN capability) to protect/support it
Can frigates/destroyers provide air defence or long range ASW for a task group? Can they be built and delivered in the same timeline as
OE and
POW? Can they provide flagship facilities? As for an
Ocean replacement, QEC will be able to provide lift for two companies of Marines. If you are going to buld a large ship....
Ignoring the 'Jam tommorow' aspect of your suggestions, it ignores the problem of manpower, which is down to the politicians.
As for just supporting a Carrier Strike Group, is this as well as things like national tasking like FRE/TAPS/
Kipion/APT(S) and NATO roles, all of which we curently do? Instead of contributing to US/French Carrier Groups, we will have one of our own. In some ways this is not unlike having the Joint Expeditionary Force (Maritime).
FODPlod
I hope you are not forgetting the dash by
Invincible from the Carribean to Sierra Leone in 1997:
Typically a Task Group would plan to transit approximately 300 nautical miles per day. In November 1997 the Permanent Joint Headquarters required air power to be rapidly deployed over Sierra Leone. The available strike carrier, HMS INVINCIBLE, was operating in the Caribbean. When first alerted of the potential tasking the commanding officer, acting within the bounds of his extant orders, re-positioned with his supporting Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker to mid Atlantic. When the executive order to re-deploy was received HMS INVINCIBLE moved across the Atlantic ocean in only 5 days, a distance of some 3,200 nautical miles, at an average speed of 27 knots.
From
British Maritime Doctrine - Paragraph 205.