Actually, if I was pickking the ideal size for a Hypothetical carrier, I would trade ‘ship’ systems such as an extensive radar suite and weapons other than CIWS and C3 (or is it now C4?) capability in order to push the size of the ship up to 40,000tons if possible, moving these ‘lost’ capabilities to escorts whilst leaving space and weight in the carrier design for later installation if needed. The biggest battle a carrier will ever face is the one to be built in the first place, and keeping the initial costs down is one way to win that battle (HMS Ocean cost little more than a frigate by keeping the ships systems simple, no air search radar or missile systems for example, though these could be added at a later date if required), so I would aim for a ship that coulld operate a medium sized air group (including Strike/Fighters, AEW and ASW types as well as facilities for LPH operations) whilst keeping the ship simple and planning for later upgrades. 40,000tons brings the ship to the threshold of CTOL operations thus opening up the options for operational use. Plan to fight your own short sighted politicians before you plan to fight your nations enemies 😉
While I understand the ecomnomic arguement behind keeping weapons fit on CVs to a minimum, the lack of say missile systems for example, has always alarmed me. Surely the possibility of mass AShM attack is still considered a possiblity (I assume thats the driving force behind Horizon/T45 and PAAMS) in which case, every vessel having some sort of defensive capability has got to be a requirement. I’d also be concerned about comparisons to Ocean – it may be as cheap as a frigate, but then was it built to the standards of say a Type 23? I’d heard the comments “its only got to get there” more than once during its design and build stage which cannot be reassuring for either the vessels crew or the guys they’ve just dropped on hostile territory!
Phil
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