Spain and Italy light carriers are much like the Invincible class budget carriers but they can boost the ranks and assist the St malo agreement did not mention them because the agreement was specifically aimed at large fleet carriers, whats more the Juan Carlos is pretty much an LPA not a CVA.
The UK has 7 nuclear submarines she is replacing the Trafalgar class 1 for 1 so 7 astute will be built in fact the last 3 are under construction right now.
the UK also and has 3 of the 4 decommissioned Trafalgar that could be bought back into service too if the need arises
The point of a MHCM shadowing Russian warships in the channel well, the English Channel is an international water way and as such no nation can be barred passage, MHCM vessels do double as patrol craft they also have equipment for ELINT on board whats more its likely they would be met also with a French Dutch or Belgian heavy unit that's n the area.
the 1/3 rule is flexible enough to allow you the use of 2/3 of the fleet if needed, some platforms require more maintenance than others for example the patrol craft mine hunters don't require as much down time as the type 45's they can go for years and in fact they do in Bahrain.
No country not even the USA has reserves even Russia doesn't have reserves the days of having ships in reserve are long gone there's next to nothing in the layup yards that can be put back to service.
I agree the army would be somewhat over stretched in a future large scale conflict.
Bits of paper have caused wars so have promises and yes i'm a bit more optimistic because i see what goes on nearly every day, the RFA fill in for some RN operations around the world such as the Caribbean and gulf of Aden that in itself frees up valuable escorts.
I agree we will disagree but i do agree we need more escort ships to support the carriers but IMHO they are a worth while investment and i support the decision to have them in our fleet.
Don't forget it was the UK that made much of the advances in carrier design and technology.
Do you think that the USN should have 10 carriers?
Do you think Germany should have a light carrier?
|