As said in the tin.
When you think about it, it would avoid an immense amount of suffering and money waste.
Kind of
- screw the Tigers
- screw CVA-01
- screw Spey Phantoms
do we agree all three above were expensive boondoggles ? so good riddance (sorry, that's the radical in me... !)
Also allows a smoother draw down of the large carrier fleet. No Phantomization for either Eagle or Ark Royal.
As soon as the "East of suez" dream is dead and buried, retired these two (1969 ?)
As for the Centaurs: convert them into "interim Escort cruisers" with Harriers on the deck. Perhaps keep only two or three of them.
End result a decade later, circa 1972: the pivot from "East of suez" to "NATO ASW" has been acted. The RN now has a mixed fleet of Centaurs and Escort cruisers with ASW helicopters and Harriers on their decks.
Let's say they build three Escort cruisers (= OTL Invincibles) and keep three out of four Centaurs (Albion / Bulwark / Hermes) in the same role: that's six decks.
Thought ?
When you think about it, it would avoid an immense amount of suffering and money waste.
Kind of
- screw the Tigers
- screw CVA-01
- screw Spey Phantoms
do we agree all three above were expensive boondoggles ? so good riddance (sorry, that's the radical in me... !)
Also allows a smoother draw down of the large carrier fleet. No Phantomization for either Eagle or Ark Royal.
As soon as the "East of suez" dream is dead and buried, retired these two (1969 ?)
As for the Centaurs: convert them into "interim Escort cruisers" with Harriers on the deck. Perhaps keep only two or three of them.
End result a decade later, circa 1972: the pivot from "East of suez" to "NATO ASW" has been acted. The RN now has a mixed fleet of Centaurs and Escort cruisers with ASW helicopters and Harriers on their decks.
Let's say they build three Escort cruisers (= OTL Invincibles) and keep three out of four Centaurs (Albion / Bulwark / Hermes) in the same role: that's six decks.
Thought ?