Cameron says second UK aircraft carrier will be brought into service

Reuters ^ | Fri Sep 5, 2014 | Kylie MacLellan, Michael Holden

[sukhoi-30mki]

(Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Friday that a second aircraft carrier, currently being built, would be brought into service, ending speculation about its future.

"This will ensure that we will always have one carrier available, 100 percent of the time," Cameron said in a speech at a NATO summit in Wales.

The fate of the carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, was not due to be decided until a defence spending review in the second half of next year after a national election, and defence experts had said it could be mothballed or sold.

In July, Queen Elizabeth officially named the first carrier, which bears her name, the biggest warship Britain has ever built, as part of the 6.2 billion pound ($10.12 billion) project

[sukhoi-30mki]

[minnesota_bound]

We could give them a couple of our older carriers and then we build new ones for the USA.

[colorado tanker]

They don’t use anything approaching a Nimitz Class carrier, just smaller jump jet carriers.

[omega4412]

A fine way to take on external enemies but not very useful if the Brits don’t defeat the internal enemy first.

[fella]

"A fine way to take on external enemies but not very useful if the Brits don’t defeat the internal enemy first."

Internal or eternal?

[Natufian]

Things have moved on....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth-class_aircraft_carrier

[miliantnutcase]

I like it, but they cut costs by going with conventional power.

[GeronL]

Call it the HMS Jihadist

because by the time it is completed, it will used for ISIS or something

Will carry a lot of CHOPPERS

[BenLurkin]

Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.

When Britain first, at heaven’s command,
Arose from out the azure main,
This was the charter of the land,
And Guardian Angels sang this strain:

The nations not so blest as thee
Must, in their turn, to tyrants fall,
While thou shalt flourish great and free:
The dread and envy of them all.

[buckalfa]

Can we and the Brits afford more carriers, especially since missile tech proliferation and asymmetrical tactics make the flat tops hard(er) to defend? Carriers are still a great way to project power, but for how long into this century?

[colorado tanker]

Thanks! 65,000 tons is much bigger than what they had been using. Nice to see a European country attending to its military.

[miliantnutcase]

The last of the Nimitz carriers is set to retire in 2058.

[steve86]

Most Britains do not consider the UK to be a “European country”, despite EU membership and geographic positioning.

[minnesota_bound]

I suspect that if you do not initially send thousands of missiles into enemy territory to destroy their missiles then no carrier group could approach without being destroyed.

I would build ships that have hundreds of missiles aboard and later bring in the carriers as you will need aircraft. The missile threat is going to be so severe that I think that a pilot stands little chance unless we wipe the enemy capability out with massive bombardment.

[Alter Kaker]

I like it, but they cut costs by going with conventional power.

What's with the "but?" Of course they went conventional -- the carrier's for responding to contingencies not for continual force projection. You don't need a nuclear carrier to sail to the Eastern Med every once in a while.

[Natufian]

Indeed! And two of them. Add them to the French carrier and you’ve got a significant blue water force.

[miliantnutcase]

Thinking of power generation actually- this will be a very large ship. The new reactors in the Gerald Ford class can power electro-magnetic catapults.

[Winniesboy]

I'm losing count of the times there's been a volte face over these ships. One or two? Joint project with the French? The first mothballed/sold to the French after the second is ready? Ships but no planes? F35 B or C? Or even Rafale? Skijump or cats and traps? It's all become a bit of a ritual dance - though at least the F35 saga can't be blamed on British dithering.