The 2003 white paper shifts maritime emphasis toward effects ashore while still requiring access to the theatre and protection of sea lines from the home base. New amphibious ships, existing light carriers, and Tomahawk are described as a versatile land-attack and support package. Secure joint sea-based logistics would reduce dependence on host-nation facilities and the political or protection costs of a large footprint ashore. Future carriers and Type 45 destroyers were supposed to expand air power and force protection early in the following decade. The paragraph then declares some older ships less useful to the expected pattern of operations and says numbers must fall, exposing the tension between the expeditionary system described and the fleet about to be reduced.
Notable Point · 1:08:23-1:09:23
The 2003 case for sea-based logistics and land attack
The 2003 maritime paragraph treated amphibious shipping, carrier aviation, Tomahawk, Type 45, and secure sea-based logistics as one expeditionary system, then prepared the ground for further hull reductions.