[tanknetter]

Money.

The De Gaulle was hideously expensive, and the Brits took note. As it is, the Cameron Gvt is now trying to reverse course on it’s decision to go with a “conventional” (cats and wires) launch/recovery setup instead of STOVL ... CATOBAR being much more expensive than they planned for.

[freebilly]

Did the British ever build an engine that performed up to standards...?

[moonshot925]

I made a mistake. The A4W is used on the Nimitz class. The A1B is used on the Ford class.

[James Thomas]

I do not possess the inside military knowledge that you all do, but, since I have read “Charley Wilson’s War”, I understand that there has been a disparity between the capabilities of the U.S.A. and the U.K. for a long time.

[KarlInOhio]

The advantage of nuclear power is primarily the ability to go anywhere in the world without worrying about refueling the ship. If the operational area is primarily the North Atlantic and Mediterranean with an Argentine smack-down every few decades there may not be much of a need for the carrier to be nuclear powered.

[neodad]

Since they have never built a nuclear aircraft carrier, I imagine the learning curve would be steep...

[hattend]

QE is about half the tonnage isn’t it?

[jmacusa]

The Brits just don’t have the money. Nice folks in general. They just live on a small island and are limited by that.

[GenXteacher]

Because nuclear reactors can’t be made to leak oil. :P