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Yep, and that used to be Australian strategic doctrine. A bit of brief history, perhaps.

The two carrier policy was introduced in 1947 when it was decided to acquire two Majestic class carriers from the UK.

The first was HMAS Sydney (originally the HMS Terrible) which was accepted for service in 1949. The Sydney/Terrible was basically a World War II carrier designed for use with piston engine aircraft. Obviously by 1949, things were changing, and it was decided that the second carrier - HMAS Melbourne (originally the HMS Majestic) would be modified to more modern needs - angled flight desk, steam powered catapaults, mirror based landing system, etc. Because of this Melbourne wasn't accepted for service until 1955 - in the interim, the Royal Navy lent us the Collossus class carrier, Vengeance.

HMAS Sydney served as a carrier during the Korean War, but really was only barely capable because of its old fashioned design - that is, it served well enough in Korea, but it was already clear that it was at the limits of its capabilities. The Navy tried to get the government to fund modernisation, but that was refused. Once Melbourne became available, Sydney was relegated to a training ship, and then mothballed in 1958. We were now down to one carrier - and even the Melbourne was looking a little small given the aircraft that were being developed. Australia at this time, examined the possibility of buying a larger carrier (possibly a US Essex class), but that didn't come to fruition. In 1959, it was announced that in 1963, when Melbourne was due for a refit, fixed wing aviation would be disbanded in the Royal Australian Navy, as there was no guarantee of government support and funding for new aircraft, or extending the life of existing aircraft. The two carrier policy had gone to a one carrier policy, to a no-carrier policy in less than 15 years.

Fortunately for the RAN, John Gorton became Minister for the Navy at this time, and he actually was willing to fight for what the Navy needed. He managed to find funding to keep the Sea Venoms and Gannets in service.

The RAN again tried to get a new carrier - again, a US Essex class was the main one wanted - but the Defence Minister knocked it back. The key to keeping a carrier force then became the need to find aircraft to replace the Sea Venoms and Gannetts - basically something small. The A-4 Skyhawk fitted the bill.

The Navy had to fight to get the Skyhawk - the RAAF wanted all moneys to be spent on more F-111s, but eventually the government let the Navy buy 10 of them - and the Navy was able to buy another 10, by sacrificing the building of two submarines.

The Skyhawks entered service on Melbourne in 1968.

Meanwhile Sydney had come back into service as a troopship - and served this role throughout the Vietnam War - the Vung Tau Ferry - before being decommissioned at the end of Australian involvement in that war.

I joined the Navy in the mid-1970s, intending to try and make my career in Carrier - or rather Carrier, because we only had one - so what happened from then on, affected me a lot.

Melbourne was getting old - functionally she was a modified and somewhat modernised World War II era carrier. Australia had a conservative government at the time - late 1970s - and they were willing to replace the Melbourne, but wanted to do so as cheaply as was reasonably possible. It was decided that STOVL aircraft (like the Harrier) was the way to go, and they began looking for a replacement carrier and aircraft for it. They looked at a bunch of potential designs and eventually came down to three - but suddenly the Royal Navy informed Australia that it had decided that one of its existing STOVL carriers, the HMS Invincible, was surplus to requirements - and Australia could have it pretty cheap if it wanted it.

On 25th February 1982, Australia announced that it was going to purchase the Invincible and it would join the Australian fleet in 1983 as HMAS Australia.

Unfortunately for us, on 2nd April 1982, Argentina invaded the Falklands.

The war that resulted convinced the Royal Navy it needed to keep Invincible - Australia was offered the HMS Hermes for purchase as an alternative but it didn't fit our needs - and while the Navy reopened consideration of the other options, in February 1983, a Labor government was elected - and the new Defence Minister announced that Melbourne would not be replaced.

Labor held office until the mid 1990s - and did quite a lot of damage to our defence capabilities in that time. We're now rebuilding - but things that would have been relatively cheap if they'd been done slowly, are much more expensive when they have to be done quickly after years of neglect.