Russian state media outlet RT has published a story claiming that the United Kingdom is preparing to build a third Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier — this one supposedly named HMS Prince Andrew — citing the UK Defence Journal as its source.
However, the article RT relied on was satire.
Published on April 1st as an April Fools’ piece, the story was clearly tongue-in-cheek, packed with intentionally absurd claims designed to amuse rather than inform.
The satirical article claimed the new supercarrier would carry “infinity-hundred” aircraft, be armed with Cold War-era Harriers or “naval Typhoons” launched via six catapults, and cost the taxpayer a modest £987.6 billion.
RT’s report lifted lines from the April 1st article and presented them as genuine analysis, omitting all context that marked the piece as parody. It quoted: “Brian Robertson, a senior analyst at the DMCS think tank, called the decision to expand the fleet ‘a waste of money and lives.’ He stressed that one strike would turn the carrier into ‘a pile of scrap metal.’”
In the original article, this came from a fictional expert at the obviously fake “Daily Mail Comment Section” think tank, who actually said: “Waste of funds & Human Life! One correctly placed Smart-Bomb will see Today’s heap of steel turn into Tomorrow’s heap of Scrap!” Whether through poor editorial standards or by design, RT stripped away the satirical context to present a fabricated quote as fact — a tactic consistent with efforts to discredit Western defence decisions by reframing humour as incompetence.
RT, formerly known as Russia Today, is a state-funded international broadcaster often criticised for promoting Kremlin-aligned narratives and for blurring the line between news and propaganda. Banned from broadcasting in the UK and elsewhere, RT has long been accused of spreading disinformation to undermine confidence in Western institutions.
RT’s article, titled “Britain to Expand Navy Due to ‘Russian Threat’,” failed to note that the UK Defence Journal article was published on April 1st and made no mention of the satirical elements or the comically exaggerated content. Instead, it presented the fictional carrier plan as a legitimate news story, quoting the fabricated sources as if they were credible analysts.
This raises a critical question: was this a case of incompetence, or intention?
If RT genuinely mistook an obvious April Fools’ joke for real news, it would suggest a worrying lapse in basic journalistic scrutiny. On the other hand, if RT knowingly published the satirical piece as fact, it would reflect a deliberate effort to mislead readers and paint British defence policy as irrational or absurd — a tactic not uncommon in disinformation campaigns aimed at Western audiences.
Commenting on the situation, George Allison — the original author of the article — said:
“As part of our usual April Fools’ Day tradition, we published a clearly satirical piece about a fictional third aircraft carrier—HMS Prince Andrew—complete with absurd details like “go faster stripes” and “crayons”. It was meant to be obviously fake, and it was written to make people laugh. But there was also a secondary layer to it. We suspected that some outlets—particularly those eager to undermine the UK—might pick up the story without checking it properly. If they took it seriously, it would highlight a lack of basic editorial scrutiny. If they knew it was satire and published it anyway, it would say something more deliberate about their intent. Either outcome would be revealing.
That’s exactly what happened. A Russian state media outlet picked up the story and presented it as real. It’s easy to laugh, but it also points to something important: how easily disinformation or narrative-shaping content can spread when verification is skipped in favour of a message. It’s strange to call something so silly a “serious moment,” but in a way, it was. It showed how quickly falsehoods can travel when they align with preexisting narratives. It also demonstrated something we value at UKDJ—credibility. That the story was treated as plausible, even in jest, says a lot about the trust people place in our reporting (which we don’t take lightly). This IS a reminder—playful, yes, but pointed—that context, source-checking, and editorial integrity matter.”
As of now, there is no plan to build a third Queen Elizabeth-class carrier, let alone one named after Prince Andrew. No catapults, no vintage jets, no billion-pound budget blowouts — and certainly no “go-faster stripes.”
I’m convinced a third aircraft carrier will be vital if the UK needs to strengthen its Far East naval operations in the future. An air component would be a major part of operations and the use of a carrier would achieve this. The vessel may not be as large as the QE Class but capable of deploying manned and unmanned aircraft on a permanent basis.
I don’t disagree but there are about a million more pressing issues to solve first in terms of the RN’s strength
Unless there is a cooling in the Chinese military expansion, the Far East will be increasingly important to protect in terms of the right of passage on the high seas. UK interests with Australia and New Zealand could get even closer in the coming decades and joint naval operations could increase. A dedicated carrier in the region would be essential and could possibly be jointly operated by all three navies?
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But with a dedicated 3rd carrier would also need more escorts; at least 2 more air defence destroyers and anti-submarine frigates each, plus a couple of subs and also additional RFA supply ships.
And around 5,000 additional sailors to crew them.
If the government went nuts and upper defence spending to 5% of GDP then sure, but otherwise there are far more pressing priorities.
I also feel that we should let the US handle China alone. They abandon Europe, Europe will also abandon them.
I’m suggesting a possible joint venture with Australia and New Zealand and share the costs plus the support ships and frigates would be provided by the three navies. If the seas of the Far East do become controlled by the Chinese navy, then an international naval presence will be vital to ensure the free passage of trade and of course, it will cost a lot of UK taxpayers’ money.
Steve R, In the inlikely event that Britain would get a third carrier, it still doesnt mean that we would deploy all three simultaneously. Probably only one at a time. So don’t need a massive uplift in escorts ‘for the third carrier’.
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Would be nice, but very, very low on a list of priorities.
If we are indeed facing WW3(at least conventiional war in Europe plus Chinese expansion in the far east, besides loads of ongoing grey zone everywhere else), then we will probably need another carrier & loads more of erverything else. We’ve been lied to blind that we could run our forces down this far as we’re in peaceful times, when the reality was that what we had left was plainly inadequate for basic peacetime missions.
Maurice, I remember it being said a decade ago that having two carriers would enable the RN to have a 70% chance at any given momnet of one of them being available for ops. That is why we had three Invincible class carriers and why the ‘rule of 3’ was (or is) ‘a thing’.
We do need 3 carriers or at a push 2 carriers plus an LPH, replacement for HMS Ocean.
People will ask where the money and the crew are coming from – if the need is there, then resources would be found. So far, just 9 months into power, Labour have taken money off pensioners, businesses, the foreign aid budget and the welfare budget – anything is possible.
Sadly, Graham, the UK government knows current budgetary measures in regard to defence is far higher than currently published. A stronger tie-up with Australia, New Zealand and now Canada on future defence programs appears to be gaining momentum. Trump’s current policy is driving this situation and with good reason, as the US appears to be rewriting its global commitments and defence policies. The once solid and dependable America appears to be loosening its grip, which may forge numerous new compacts between nations that up to now do not exist. I believe a core naval group could be formed in the Far East with our allies through a shared defence budget, thus amortising the costs rather than individually. A LPH should be a cheaper option to a QE Class as a mixed aircraft complement would offer numerous options yet requiring a smaller platform.
Disagree here.
Should anything salient have been shown, it is that given the vagaries and undulations in Govt. policy, there should be a rule of 5. Think the Bomber fleet and the problems with docking them.
As to current Govt PR, it has been appallingly presented.
Should I have said for every UC claimant there would be a fraud officer rather than a work coach for unemployed for other 3 months (no one can live on -£400/mth for 3 months, what would you have said?
Should I have said that every present and claimant of PIP would be subject to 1:1 interview and rigorous assessment including X months compulsory counselling and ongoing assessment b4 monies being disbursed, what would you have said?
What would you have said if every pensioner in receipt of ancillary care had had a form completed for them to see if they qualified for winter fuel allowance (my mum receives more in pensions than I earn), what would you have said AND,
Should this Govt. have said that the two cuts to NI were economic stupidity and frankly economic wrecking of the economy and were being reversed, what would you have said?
Good ideas, badly thought out and presented.
FYI, the PIP part actually does involve 1:1 assessment, it also requires medical evidence by way of medical history and additional tests. This process can take up to 16 weeks before any award might be given.
PIP has two parts, the daily living part and the mobility part, a large form is provided and all sorts of questions are asked, you can only really answer honestly due to the other parts of the process.
Points are given for the various key parts of the form and after the form is submitted, you have to wait until a 1:1 assessment is booked with a health advisor/medically qualified person.
To qualify for any payment at all, the claimant will have some sort of life changing disability and to claim the highest rate of both the daily living part and the mobility part, the claimant needs to be pretty poorly indeed.
You sound like a person who has no Idea how PIP actually works and zero care for the less fortunate people of this World who find themselves in such a bad position due to health issues.
Health Issues can be any number of conditions and have any number of causes, they can be visible and non visible and not all disabled or un healthy people claim benefits but the less fortunate have little choice other than to claim in order to carry on.
This is why I think the new mrss should all be through decks. This would give us multiple options for drones and helps and in extremis f35
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No RN carrier is lasting 5 minutes if we got involved in a conflict between US and China, Better to increase SSN numbers
Honestly anyone wishing to be regarded as a news source should avoid doing things so juvenile as creating news fabrications just because it is the beginning of April, do we really need more utter crap disguised as news flying all over the internet than we usually do?
Hi Tom — we appreciate you taking the time to comment, though we’d gently push back on the idea that running a clearly labelled April Fools’ article undermines our credibility. The piece included multiple obvious signals — from fictional sources to an explicit message at the end stating it wasn’t real — and was designed to underscore a serious point about media literacy and the importance of reading beyond headlines.
We *are* a respected news source and have earned that standing through consistent, in-depth coverage of defence matters. A single annual tradition — marked clearly as a joke — doesn’t change that. But it *has* sparked an important conversation, so we’ll take that as a success.
From your inside sources George, is it true Santa is expanding his reiendeer sleigh force to counter any American move against Greenland?
I understand that Santa is planning to throw his toy grenades out of his basket over this. The Americans will be shocked when GI Joe body bags start returning to Hasbro.
There were so many.
Did you have one each?
And I appreciate your reply, a part of my comment admittedly comes from a general annoyance at having to ignore all news on April first because of all this stuff, but the rest comes from a genuine concern that in the days of social media headlines such intendedly harmless jokes are too easily exploited to feed the misinformation campaigns that cause real harm to liberal democracies, unfortunately the effort required to debunk a lie is so vastly greater than that to generate it so the outpouring of pre-generated lies on April first seem to me to be only aiding those hostile to liberal democracy in shaping divisive outrage in western countries knowing so many won’t actually read the reference source or when it was written.
Hi George, with respect I too think that UKJD’s making such a large item out of April 1st is unwise. Perhaps it would be seen as more in proportion if there were to be only one of these April Fool’s stories each year, obviously marked as such, and thereby maintaining the site’s credibility.
The Telegraph was famous for April Fools front page stories… though I suppose it’s arguable if that is a serious news outlet.
Funny enough I do remember one from 30 + years back with diagrams about BMW producing automatic self checking and pressurising tyres on its cars. Funny how technology catches up with fanciful notions.
It is interesting that The Telegraph covered this article with the headline “Russia fooled by ‘HMS Prince Andrew’”. It is only at the second to last paragraph the Telegraph article rather dismissively comments “It also has raised questions over whether RT deliberately reported the absurd claims to mislead the Russian public and spread disinformation” . Which rather reinforces the point of this article.
It’s clearly a joke if you actually read the article there’s no way it could be seen as anything else, unless you’re a biased and ridiculous FSB troll like mouthpiece.
You must be fun at parties!
I wonder to what extent these outlets rely on automated ‘scraping’ of other sources with limited scrutiny by actual humans. In that case the humour may have been lost along the way, especially if any human who did cast an eye over it did not speak English as their first language.
Are you saying that Russian humour is in someway inferior? 🙂
Damn that’s war talk to Putin.
I would.
Not just “lesser” outlets, AP provides some insane amount of news to every other MSM source, they rehash it as their own and maybe send out someone to cover it if it seems worthwhile later on. Kind of necessary in today’s 24-hour news cycle, filler, filler, filler. Spend a little time on a news aggregator of your choice, 20% of content will be AI generated from God knows where, 50% AP derived, and the rest sourced from press releases, X and/or imagination.
Newsround was more professional, selective, detailed and informative in its 15 mins aimed at kids than most news channels manage in a 2-hour slot now. Day to day journalism seems restricted to “blogs” and smaller newspapers these days sadly.
I thought the April 1st article named the ship as HMS Princess Diana or were there two articles. I do not remember seeing the Prince Andrew one
I think last year’s called it Princess Diana, this year they changed the name
In previous years it’s been Diana
HMS Dodi Fayed would have been a real zinger.
It would have been more credible if you added furry dice.
I rather liked the idea of go faster stripes
Any chance they could be retro fitted to QE
Go-faster dazzle paint would be the ultimate 😏
Beat me to it
Still hoping to wake up & find Trumps 2nd presidency was a very bad dream! 2 carriers are fine for peacetime so long as we have enough escorts(we have probably a half to a third of what we need), aircraft to be able to use our QEs properly, a stronger RM force & immediate replacements for the Albions.
If you source RT etc for info you get what you deserve. Potus & MAGA being taken in by their lies are shocking. If MAGA was still behind NATO as just calimed on BBC News(Trump administration spokesman), then they wouldn’t have proposed invading & annexing NATO members Canada & Greenland(Denmark), nor encouraged Putin to attack any NATO member underspending on defence. But if you subscribe to enemy properganda you’re free to say one thing one day & the complete opposite the next.
Deeply concerning Frank how the BBC has become so complicit in the Trump/MAGA message, far too often they feed us Republican Abroad or other MAGA spokes persons and barely question their message and have no real alternative voices to do so. Clearly they are wary of getting Agency bans from the US. Concerning however when I have to go to CNN or MSBNC or the Meidas Touch or in the UK Times Radio or LBC to get a real alternative message to stock BBC/ITV massaging of the news coming out of America. Geez when Andrew Neil is expressing far greater concerns about what’s happening to US Democracy than mainstream media here I get deeply concerned. Sarah Smith the BBC Correspondent these days is barely discernible from Karoline Leavitt half the time these days.
Oh that’s funny, citing CNN and MSNBC as real sources of information.
TBH the April fools jokes on here are all embarrassingly lame… especially when compared Drachinifel’s “SS Great Eastern / HMS Leviathan” video on YouTube. This masterpiece told the story how SS Great Eastern was transformed from a failed passenger ship into the world’s largest two-deck ironclad ship-of-the-line, then a turreted ore-dreadnought battleship, before its sheer size was finally utilised as an aircraft carrier in WW2.
Sheer genius.
I guess with something like defence articles, you got make it more light hearted so it isn’t taken seriously. No doubt that’s the reason for Disclaimer at the end.
Possibly, there’s so many these days will only glance at a headline and skim an article (if that) before launching into a rant in the comments section…
I’ve seen ai browser generated summaries that cites the uk is acquiring a third carrier, citing an older April fools article from ukdj. It just shows you that data scraping can cause issues.
Russians are not known for being very bright…
It’s why they and MAGA are finding so much in common.
….and that’s my friends how WW3 began
It is really important to note the political warfare element..this is not a joke. There are vast numbers of people who will not understand where this came from and why..infact it will even be read and have traction with less analytical people in the west.
People are assuming the Russians didn’t realize it was a joke. They probably did but sourced and reported it in a manner that suited their purpose.
Thick as mince.
Pretty much.
George, very well played and keep up the good work! Cheers, NDG.
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