The Queen Elizabeth class supercarriers, the ships we deserve or the ships that we need?

IMAGE: The proposed CATOBAR variant of the vessel.

While they demonstrate huge capability leaps for the Royal Navy are they all that they could have been?

A common saying in the Navy is “One is none, two is one” so have we reduced ourselves to the capabilities of a single carrier?

Potentially but then this is not a choice of want but a choice of necessity as simply put the Navy nor the MoD would have money for a third carrier; let alone the planes needed for it. One of the most contentious point about the two we do have is that the STOVL design was selected for her, meaning that aircraft will need to use a ski-jump to provide the extra lift for takeoff.

Straight away this can limit the variety of aircraft that you can operate, as they need to be ones optimised for these short take offs. And if often means the decision will need to be made if aircraft will be taking off with extra fuel for their mission or a heavier weapons load for the strike. Yet as a carrier optimised for higher sortie rates the former can be selected as more aircraft could be launched and then be rearmed and launched again in quick succession.

Though with the F-35 being a jet that already has a small internal bomb bay, though this grants the plane a stealth advantage, the ordnance load will always need to be a priority. Furthermore, as we saw with the Harrier, expensive ordnance had to be dropped in the ocean for the plane to land on a shorter deck but this will not be the case with the F-35B.

Was the decision to not install steam catapults one that will haunt us for the next 50 years?

That is hard to say but she is a carrier specifically designed on the basis of higher sortie rates rather than high aircraft numbers. It is also important to note that helicopter operations will be core to these carriers for ASW and troop movements, so portions of air operations would be unaffected by steam catapults.

So they could have been an expensive addition for not much extra benefit and the drawback that they cause damage to aircraft air-frames over time. But they need power and power isn’t something the Queen Elizabeth class lack but are they truly future proofed as they do not use nuclear reactors like their big brothers in the US Navy.

This means that she needs to be refuelled, she has a range of 10,000 nautical miles rather than the limitless range of a nuclear powered carrier, however nuclear carriers still need to take of food and aviation fuel frequently.

After all, she is meant to serve as the flagship for 50 years and in that time money could be wagered that development in laser weapons will be made, laser weapons that will more than likely need a lot of power.

Though is nuclear always the answer as it removes the need to refuel the ship but the men and women on-board will still need their food, as the aircraft will need fuel and weapons.

But then this could be done in the safety of a port but some nations would not allow a nuclear powered vessel to dock within their borders so that would reduce the available docks to the Queen Elizabeth class.

That would be before cost would be looked at, not just the life cost of it but the decommissioning costs as we currently have 7 nuclear submarines sitting in Rosyth and Devonport awaiting dismantling.

So it is obvious that the QEC could have been more similar to that of a Nimitz class and possibly could have benefited from that but in the budget that the MoD has and the way the QEC would be operated this could be money saved for no real loss in capability.

Duncan is a graduate student of journalism who has a keen interest in the defence sector. Duncan's specialism is the Royal Navy. Duncan is on Twitter and happily engages in discussion there.
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Bloke down the pub
Bloke down the pub
6 years ago

I have always contended that the decision to build a stovl carrier was pushed by the RAF. The light blue don’t like the fact that they got left out of many C20th conflicts simply because they couldn’t get their aircraft to the war zone, whatever their maps said. As they were not prepared to spend the time and effort practicing deck landings, the only way they could get an invite to the ball was with stovl, so that became their proviso for supporting the carrier purchase.

Richard Turpin
Richard Turpin
6 years ago

Oh yes. What else have you always contended (down the pub?)

Dave Simpson
Dave Simpson
6 years ago

Stay in the pub…

An Englishman in Austria
An Englishman in Austria
6 years ago

Personally these ships should have been equipped from the start with CATOBAR simply as it gives much more flexibility to them… AEW is easy E-2 Hawkeye and then you get the Super Hornets which give you Fighter Strike Jammer and vital at sea Air to Air Refuelling or Rafale but you end up with no Jammers and not sure if the can AAR yet and you could also buy 24 F-35C’s for when you need the stealth option and you still have the Super Hornets on deck to work with to provide support jamming refuelling… so a proposed flight deck… Read more »

csm
csm
4 years ago

Those aircraft were developed as the need did, they weren’t all developed at the outset. There’s been a resurgence in STOVL flat decks with the F-35bs development so I would expect this to be the next area of development.

Adrian Palmer
Adrian Palmer
6 years ago

How supportable are the ships?
They can’t be put in dry-dock in Pompey or Devonport.
Are we dependent on Rosyth or spending commercial rates at a non-navy yard.
Whatever their capabilities, they are impractical

Me
Me
6 years ago

We don’t need aircraft carriers of this size and complexity. We haven’t needed carriers since 1982 and the Falklands War was a one off.
These carriers will be far too vulnerable for a modern conflict

James Davis
James Davis
6 years ago
Reply to  Me

http://www.savetheroyalnavy.org/carrier-count-down-part-1-debunking-the-hype-mis-information-nonsense/ Also carriers have been used elsewhere not just the Falklands. The US Navy used 6 carriers in the Gulf War. Britain used a carrier to support the Invasion of Afghanistan. The Air Campaign in Kosovo used all 3 Invincible Class Carriers at one point or another. The US used Carriers in Iraq and is currently using them in the fight against ISIS. If we decide to go to war with North Korea aircraft carriers would be a highly potent weapon (Especially if South Korea doesn’t help us). The Suez Crisis also used carriers. The War in Libya would’ve used… Read more »

Spyinthesky
Spyinthesky
4 years ago
Reply to  James Davis

Depends how you define ‘complex’ I guess. India s new carrier due for operations around 2022 (with ours if she is ready) is not in QE class and their next carrier, which might actually be based on a modifield QE design won’t operate till the thirties as impressive as they plan it to be on paper. And CdG is only more complex in terms of being Nuclear powered and CATOBAR, far less complex in most other aspects which is why their original plan was to share the basic design of the QE to replace her. Indeed she was delayed years… Read more »

Ali
Ali
6 years ago

I think it is correct to say the last time the RAF were involved in any aerial combat they had a Canberra shot down over Syria during the Suez crisis. The RAF have however through sheer weight of numbers at the MoD managed to cripple our only truly deployable force. Sabotaged and destroyed the cva-01 project in the 60’s tried to undo the Sea Harrier, finally succeeding under Torphy and done their best to get both of these carriers cancelled (I imagine Cameron- if I could scrap them I would- and co took geography and defence lessons from the same… Read more »

Pacman27
Pacman27
6 years ago
Reply to  Ali

I believe these vessels are actually well spec’d and what we need. Yes it would have been grate to have catapults, but this was a push. Without government meddling (another Gordon Brown farce) these carriers would have been 30% cheaper than they will end up being – this in itself would have paid for 24 F35b’s or the catapults. As for inter force rivalries – I believe our armed forces are of a size now that we should go to a single force structure like the USMC, this will get rid of this childish behaviour. We have got a good… Read more »

David
David
6 years ago
Reply to  Pacman27

@ Pacman27 I agree with your sentiment only one thing really bothers me and that is we are soon-to-be the only carrier operating nation in the world without any form of self-defence missile on-board. Surely having spent 6Bn we couldn’t find enough money to add at least some sort of containerised missile (eg sea captor)??? If every other carrier operating nation deems it necessary to add this to their carriers, what makes us think we are any different?? Could this be rectified in the future? Yes if the money was made available but it will never happen the way HMG… Read more »

David Stephen
David Stephen
6 years ago
Reply to  David

It’s a shame really as FFBNW is a great idea in principle. It gets the ship in the water quicker and allows the missing capabilities to be added at refit when schedules and money allow. Unfortunately in practice the idea falls apart as government types have the mindset of “you have managed without that capability so far so why do you need it now” and there is no will to follow through leaving ships lacking vital kit. MK41 vls on type 45 is the prime example.

David
David
6 years ago
Reply to  David Stephen

Bang on point David – FFBNW should read ‘Fitted for but NEVER with’……

Spyinthesky
Spyinthesky
4 years ago
Reply to  David Stephen

It’s as if they never plan to use them to actually fight isn’t it.

Spyinthesky
Spyinthesky
4 years ago
Reply to  David

Agreed

chris
chris
6 years ago
Reply to  Ali

Ali – I found your post highly entertaining but a little short on fact. It was the Labour Government in the ’60s who killed the CVA-01 carrier along with the P1154, TSR-2 and the STOVL air freighter. I doubt the RAF for all your belief in their evil intentions had the clout of the Treasury and the USA as Labour negotiated for stupendous amounts of loans. I also doubt they tried to persuade the MoD to cancel its supersonic ‘Harrier’ and new transport aircraft. And no doubt the evil ‘Crabs’ were also to blame for the cancellation of the Type… Read more »

dadsarmy
dadsarmy
6 years ago

Well, that’s interesting. Firstly about numbers the US has 10/11 carriers with a population of 320 million. so with 65 million, the UK’s pro rata would be 2 – exactly what we’re getting. Power. The USA has economy of scale at 10 carriers run on nukes, it would probably cost the UK with 2, twice as much per carrier, build and mainenance, all the skills. Clearly they would not be the same as the 4 vanguards / dreadnoughts / astutes, designed to be compact. So it would be a new type of reactor to be developed. Budget. There’s always a… Read more »

Pacman27
Pacman27
6 years ago
Reply to  dadsarmy

Spot on Dads Army… As long as we have volume for the carriers and have a complimentary fleet of Typhoons or Gripen or similar to get us up to volume I am now thinking we go with a 3 class operational force of F35s (64+8) Typhoons (64+8) and Gripens (128+16). The justification for this is cost. I may be wrong but an F35b is circa £100m, Typhoon £80m and Gripen £40m. The Gripen is made from predominantly British parts so would be good for UK industry and it is a class act – especially when paired 2 to 1 with… Read more »

Dave Simpson
Dave Simpson
6 years ago
Reply to  Pacman27

LOL ……. Planet Earth hears you

Richard Davies
Richard Davies
6 years ago
Reply to  Pacman27

”It is single engined so we could standardise the engine with that of the F35 if need be” Could you please explain how you would go about fitting the F-35 engine into the Gripen please.

David Stephen
David Stephen
6 years ago

No. F-35B is the best aircraft available and we need as many as possible. The main reason we opted for STOVL is it allows us to surge aircraft without needing to keep all RAF pilots cat & trap qualified. If we had went EMALS we would end up with 30-40 carrier capable aircraft and the rest would be as much use as the RAF is normally (not much). An all F-35B fleet enables us to put 36 on each carrier in a national emergency, just like the Falklands. Many RAF pilots had never landed on a carrier prior to this.… Read more »

Julian
Julian
6 years ago
Reply to  David Stephen

I agree. One critical factor will be how much of the sustainment fleet can be surged onto the carrier(s) in an emergency. Quite a few people have been pretty surprised about how many aircraft are planned in order to deliver 4 front line plus 1 OCU squadron, i.e. how big the sustainment fleet is going to be. As I understand it though the sustainment fleet is there partly to allow aircraft to drop out of service for non-minor maintenance or due to accidents but also so that aircraft can be rotated in and out of front line service to manage… Read more »

Nick Bowman
Nick Bowman
6 years ago

Don’t take offence, but anyone reading ukdefencejournal.org has a keen interest in defence matters. The article is overly simplistic. There is a tendency for us always to want a little bit more than we have regardless of how much that is. If you’d asked me twenty years ago whether the U.K. could or would build two 70,000 ton carriers for supersonic stealth fighters, I would have assumed you’d been drinking the loopy juice. These carriers represent a huge capability increase and I, for one, think the RN will be a whole lot more relevant for having them. So what if… Read more »

Paul Swindells
6 years ago

No one has mentioned that there has been talk of a mixed fleet. Is this not going to mean that there are a few Sqn of F35A (F35A aircraft are cheaper too) and a four Sqn of F35B.

138 aircraft for 4 Sqn + an OCU seens wrong when you think 160 Typhoons for 7Sqn + an OCU.

Is the 4 Sqn not a starting point?

Al Daw
Al Daw
6 years ago

Is it feasible for an aircraft carrier to operate both Catobar and a skijump in order that a mixed air wing (F35Bs and F35Cs) could be operated?

Thanks

Damian
Damian
5 years ago
Reply to  Al Daw

The UK should purchase the F35C rather than purchasing the F35A to go along side the F35B. The F35C has all the basic capabilities of F35A. If the Queen Elizabeth carriers were to be converted with one or more catapults in the future the F35C’s would be able to fly from them unlike the F35A’s. The F35C has longer range than the F35B but could also take off from shorter runways because of its larger wings making it good for expeditionary forces. For these reasons it’s seems that the F35B and F35C would make a good match for the UK.… Read more »

Coll
Coll
1 year ago

Nice layout