Challenge: Keep Britain's forces under budget.

I sadly doubt the carriers would be nuclear powered, but something like a Kennedy seems possible.

You wouldn't get a Kennedy sized vessel in the RN - too costly and physically too big to fit inside either Portsmouth or Devonport harbour. Every time a U.S. carrier comes to visit they either have to dock at Southhampton or drop anchor in the Solent.

Russell
 

abc123

Banned
As a rule of thumb capital equipment aquisition accounts for between 25-40% of the yearly defence budget, and the RN was about 25% of the British armed forces slice. So the capital equipment budget in 66-7 would be about 7-800 million and the RN would get 180-200 million of that. But of course the 2 CVAs and 8 T82s would take 10-12 years to build, so that 500 million may only be 30 million in 1966, up to 60 million in 1970-73 and back down to 20 million in 1976. So at worst the 2 CVAs and 8 T82 will only eat up 1/3 of the RNs capital equipment budget, which isn't unreasonable for the central pillar of the RNs force structure for the next 35-40 years.

Central pillar of British Armed Forces.
;)
 
What RN IMO needs is the smallest ship that can carry a airgroup of 15 F-4 Phantom, 15 Buccaneer, 4 Hawkeye AEW, 1 Greyhound COD and 4 Sea King SAR helicopters.

And at least 3 of them.

Assuming you are thiking of using the Clems in this role, then 40 aircraft is too much with a British airgroup. Compared to HMS Ark Royal, the only British carrier to operate F-4's which operated a maximum of 38 aircraft, the Clems had a smaller hangar. They could probably only manage around 36 Bucc's and F-4's.

Russell
 

abc123

Banned
Assuming you are thiking of using the Clems in this role, then 40 aircraft is too much with a British airgroup. Compared to HMS Ark Royal, the only British carrier to operate F-4's which operated a maximum of 38 aircraft, the Clems had a smaller hangar. They could probably only manage around 36 Bucc's and F-4's.

Russell

So, something bigger then Clemenceau and Ark Royal should be built.
30 combat aircrafts, 4-5 Hawkeye class, and 4-5 helicopters.
That's requierment.
 
So, something bigger then Clemenceau and Ark Royal should be built.
30 combat aircrafts, 4-5 Hawkeye class, and 4-5 helicopters.
That's requierment.

Something around 40,000 tons with roughly 3600-4000 meters squared of hangar space. To give some idea of the ships hangar space in meters squared:

-HMS Hermes = 2100m2
-HMS Victorious = 2150m2
-Clemenceau = 3300m2
-HMS Ark Royal = 3400m2
-USS Essex = 4000m2
-CVA-1952 = 4900m2
-CVA-01 = 4800m2

Russell
 

abc123

Banned
Something around 40,000 tons with roughly 3600-4000 meters squared of hangar space. To give some idea of the ships hangar space in meters squared:

-HMS Hermes = 2100m2
-HMS Victorious = 2150m2
-Clemenceau = 3300m2
-HMS Ark Royal = 3400m2
-USS Essex = 4000m2
-CVA-1952 = 4900m2
-CVA-01 = 4800m2

Russell

Yes, something like bigger Clemenceau or more-modern Essex.
;)
 
I think the CVAs were supposed to carry 18 each Phantoms and Buccs plus 4 AEW and 7 or so ASW and SAR Helos. Keep in mind that the Phantom and Bucc are much bigger and heavier than the Crusader and Etenard of the Clem and Foch and as all weather aircraft are expected to launch and recover in worse seas than the Clam and Foch.
 
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