Rule Britannia, Britannia Rules the waves

[GotaFancy?]

2 new Aircraft Carriers commissioned - you can really sea (sic) the scale of them against HNS Invincible!!! But £3,800,000,000 is an awful lot of money

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6914788.stm

[staffy]

do we need them?

[GotaFancy?]

Still only 2/3rd the size of the US Nimitz Class carrier though

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimitz_...rcraft_carrier

[GotaFancy?]

Originally Posted by staffy

do we need them?

Not a clue - not qualified to answer that!!! BUT we do need a solid defence (I'm sure Osesame would say colonisation ) force

[AJ]

do we need em ?

Depends what you want to do, they are designed for the remote projection of force. If you want to sail somewhere far far away and bomb the crap out of a third world country, these are perfect.

If you're interested in the defence of the UK, then no you don't need them. you can do that with land based craft

[teaulc]

about time too,,i served on H.M.S.HERMES briefly in 1978,cramped but a great ship no less,,so it good to see that 2 more carriers are being built

[GotaFancy?]

Originally Posted by AJ

If you want to sail somewhere far far away and bomb the crap out of a third world country, these are perfect.

I never knew The Falklands were third world

[Carl]

It is alot of money but a least as flood problems keep arising and the poor families of britain get poorer at least we can sleep soundly knowing we have the best navy fleet of ships in the world and we can kick ass from a million miles away with a the flick of a switch.

[Punto83]

"Mr Browne said the work would support and create 10,000 jobs across the UK, including those at yards on the Clyde, Rosyth, Portsmouth and Barrow."

Probably one of the reasons why we are building them

[AJ]

Originally Posted by GotaFancy?

I never knew The Falklands were third world

I lived there for 18 months mate. third world is a compliment to the Islas Malvinas in my book.

[davidmphill]

Originally Posted by staffy

do we need them?

Yes we do.
The Royal Navy has been decimated by Labour since they came into power.
Decommisiong ships like its going out of fashion.
Heard about this happening a long time ago and never thought a labour goverernment would go throug with it.
What they have done to the Armed Forces since they came to power is nothing short of a scandal. Cutbacks left right and centre. Deploying us all over the world to fight Bush's battles and then when the guys and girls come back from one tour of duty its off on another one.

[davidmphill]

Originally Posted by GotaFancy?

I never knew The Falklands were third world

I have spent 8 months there and although its one of the prettiest places in the world theres fcuk all to do there bar drink and shag your way through your tour of duty.
Anyone interested in wildlife I urge you to pay the islands a visit, you won't regret it. Just don't walk around in an Argentinian football shirt lke some idiot from Scotland did when I was there, needless to say he didn't last too long in the Globe pub!

[AJ]

Originally Posted by davidmphill

I have spent 8 months there and although its one of the prettiest places in the world theres fcuk all to do there bar drink and shag your way through your tour of duty.
Anyone interested in wildlife I urge you to pay the islands a visit, you won't regret it. Just don't walk around in an Argentinian football shirt lke some idiot from Scotland did when I was there, needless to say he didn't last too long in the Globe pub!

emm, that might have been me.

Was it a classic Mario Kempes '78 top by any chance ??

not at the globe, but at MPA

[SpurMan]

Turning the conversation back to the subject. Yes, we need them. Illustrious and Ark Royal are coming to the end of their service life, and need replacing. The two new carriers will, although starting off operating the STOVL version of the F35, be able to be quickly converted to operating on a CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take Off But Arrested Recovery) basis (like US fleet carriers), so they will be able to operate far more than just one type of aircraft than the Invincible Light Carriers do, meaning a far greater flexibility in what can be achieved with them than the current Carriers we have.

Would be nice if the Government would spend a bit more money on getting some of the navy's ships back at sea where they belong.

[TheRat]

This has been going on for ages and only just been comissioned......

Even big Tony was banging on about these for ages bu though Brown may push it through as puts a lot of money into the area he´s from job wise (Babcock etc), apparently

[ZuluWarrior]

Of course we need them, we're an island, what good is an army for defence???

Anyway you look at it, we've the best Navy in the world (yes, I am patriotic), so yea, I say build it...

As for the Nimitz, typical american attitude, bigger is not always better....

Besides we don't need an aircraft carrier the size of a continent, err, hello, harrier jump jet anyone?????

(Sorry, patriotic rant over with now)

[davidmphill]

Originally Posted by AJ

emm, that might have been me.

Was it a classic Mario Kempes '78 top by any chance ??

not at the globe, but at MPA

No it wasn't you by the sounds of it, it was 5 years ago and a fairly modern shirt and it was in the Globe, even the darts stopped.