My understanding was they were actually going to base those carriers here in the US, since the US has the only facilities capable of servicing such warships (of which we have ten...each displacing between 81,000-100,000 tons)
I can’t wait for the UK to get these...it’s always good when one’s allies are strong...
No doubt we will be required to either adapt one of our current ports for carrier use. I’m sure as an island/archipelago we will have enough natural deep water harbours to utilise. Scapa Flow? Somewhere near the Hebrides?
It wouldn’t really enhance our military capabilities if we berthed our two best military assets an ocean away.
Thanks for your other comment as well mate, but I am struck by the choice of threads US contributors to FR made. A day earlier you could all have had a look at the task force as it left portsmouth, pics included, but you chose this thread and used it to highlight weaknesses that we all know exist. The Invincible class aren’t big, but they fulfilled a role the US wanted us to have during the cold war, namely ASW. We can see that we need bigger assets, and have begun upgrading all our military equipment, right across the board. The RN after all, is getting brand new Air Defence Destroyers, new Astute class subs to carry our nuclear arsenal and 2 new carriers. This is an addition to the Albion Class amphibious assault ships that have been around for a few years.
I love banter, for goodness sake we Brits invented the thing! But good banter is an intelligent, well meant, discourse that illuminates as well as rebukes. All I have read in this thread is the same old stuff of ‘yours is s**t, ours is better’. Your allies are strong with or without this new material, otherwise what have we been doing for the past 5 years in Iraq and Afghanistan? Lets not forget that our Navy sent a sizeable task force 8000 miles south to defend crown property 25 years back too.