Wi:HMS Queen Elizabeth supercarrier

I wasn't talking about building full size carriers but rather the design process being born out of a mistaken assumption the UK government at the time believing that there is no future for carriers of any type, not even light ones. If they had gone with a light ASW carrier from the beginning of the plannings stage (with a secondary eye towards command facilities) the result would probably have been a bit better than OTL.

The design couldn't really be based around a light carrier because the original Harrier GR1 only RAF entered service in 1969 and didn't really prove itself at a squadron level aboard ships USS Guam in 1973-74 and USS FDR in 1976. The Sea Harrier wasn't ordered into development until 1975, by which time the 1970 Conservative Government had partly reversed the Labor decision to end carrier aviation and extend the Ark Royal out to 1978, when there was no danger that the RN would ever again get big fleet carriers.
 
Could the UK have gone for a compromise design that could serve in a CVS role the way the USN used some of the ESSEX class carriers in the later days of their carriers? These would have been primarily geared toward rotary and fixed wing based ASW with a few light fighters for air defense (probably A-4s). The intent would have been that their air groups could have been reconfigured with air defense and attack capabilities if necessary (similar to the USN sea control ship concept with the LHAs and LHDs). The Sea Harrier would have been a natural fit on these ships as well
 
But Britain had already bought and paid for 5 Buccaneer squadrons and 3 Phantom squadrons by 1965, these will have to laid aside and the RN find new money for less capable aircraft.

Lets not forget that the RAF was a vulture feasting on the carrion of the powerful FAA of the 60s and 70s. The RN had to spend the money twice and the RAF was the beneficiary.
 
A mini Kitty is missing the point. From the early 60's ( really from 57 on) the threat to NATO is from SSG/SSGN and initially STYX missile boats, limited numbers of long range aircraft. Exercises in the early 60s showed the vulnerability of CV strike groups as well as SLOC to these and the best solution was the hi Lo air based ASW system the RN/RAF was pioneering. Silver Tower, 68 is the culmination point, and at the same time you have a move to flexible response, and for the RN withdrawal from East of Suez, which places the RN within range of land based air or behind it much of the time, and the US CVs being committed to support ground forces anyway. This is not the era of multi regiment Blackjacks. And by the time it is the Sea Harrier and Tomcat are around and NATO moving to a much more aggressive conventional response. But the ability to use Harriers off cariers was proven in 63.

Fighting a Naval war offshore half the world away is not a major mission in the mid - late 60s early 70s and against this background that a really good ASW platform with fighters for localish protection is a good idea Its not downgrade, its filling a gap in NATO capability ( into which also add the Italian and Spanish ships and the concept of the SCS.)
 
A mini Kitty is missing the point. From the early 60's ( really from 57 on) the threat to NATO is from SSG/SSGN and initially STYX missile boats, limited numbers of long range aircraft. Exercises in the early 60s showed the vulnerability of CV strike groups as well as SLOC to these and the best solution was the hi Lo air based ASW system the RN/RAF was pioneering. Silver Tower, 68 is the culmination point, and at the same time you have a move to flexible response, and for the RN withdrawal from East of Suez, which places the RN within range of land based air or behind it much of the time, and the US CVs being committed to support ground forces anyway. This is not the era of multi regiment Blackjacks. And by the time it is the Sea Harrier and Tomcat are around and NATO moving to a much more aggressive conventional response. But the ability to use Harriers off cariers was proven in 63.

Fighting a Naval war offshore half the world away is not a major mission in the mid - late 60s early 70s and against this background that a really good ASW platform with fighters for localish protection is a good idea Its not downgrade, its filling a gap in NATO capability ( into which also add the Italian and Spanish ships and the concept of the SCS.)

One way to deal with SSGNs is to attack their bases, this was the role of strike fleet Atlantic the the Ark Royal in the 70s and would have been the role of CVA01 in the 70s and 80s as well. Another way is to fight them on even terms in the open ocean, but that's a wee bit harder.

Also there's a huge difference between landing a P1127 prototype on a carrier once or twice and operating a squadron at sea for weeks and months.
 
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