Mike Rossiter hoped that discovering Ark Royal would become the centrepiece of a television series about the Royal Navy. His account says that potential co-production partners considered the subject too British and that BBC management did not accept his case for financing it. Cheap access to Rig Supporter and its autonomous underwater vehicle allowed the investigation to continue despite that uncertainty. The earlier sonar survey had produced a position and an object of roughly the right dimensions, but very little detail. Rossiter acknowledges that limited time and money made it convenient to assume the closest target was the carrier. If Ark Royal had drifted farther than expected, the object could still have been a different ship.
Notable Point · 2:43:38-2:45:38
Funding pressure and uncertain identification in the Ark Royal search
Television funding problems created pressure to accept a promising sonar target before its identity was established.