National Security Committee
This is apparently meeting today to try and decide what to do about the two mega carriers ordered by Labour. Apparently it will cost more to build one than two, such is the compensation package for cancellation agreed by the most incompetent department in the history of government in this country, the Ministry of Defence. That being so and because of the employment situation on the Clyde, there is little option but to go on.
It must be understood that as a strategic weapons system these vessels are useless in a real war. Even a Falklands style conflict against an enemy with just an off the peg missile system would see them both at grave risk, rolling through the waves with 8000 tons of fuel oil and re-fuelling hazards. To build such giant vessels without a nuclear power plant is unique in the world today and militarily insane.
As a prop to Foreign Office vanity they will look good, but hardly worth the money. Equipped as a home defence system for the seas round these islands, always close to home port, they would provide good platforms for fighter and missile cover and make our country an even tougher nut to crack. That may be the best use, but hardly what was planned in the first place.
What a mess. This Blog has no hesitation in repeating that the Ministry of Defence, like the old Home Office before it, is not fit for purpose.