Atlantic Bastion and the six-ship Type 45 force
The Atlantic Bastion plan assigns Type 45 destroyers integrated air and missile defence even though only six ships exist and earlier vertical-launch choices constrain their strategic role.
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Allied Type 26 frigates are reinforcement, not a substitute
Norwegian Type 26 frigates can strengthen North Atlantic anti-submarine warfare, but they cannot safely be counted as replacements for Britain's own eight-ship force.
Why long-range missiles belong on escorts, not the carrier deck
The 2025 proposal for missiles fired from a carrier flight deck is criticized for obstructing aviation when escorts can carry safer, distributed vertical-launch cells.
The specialized capability of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary
The Royal Fleet Auxiliary's trained seafarers and specialized ships sustain deterrent, carrier, amphibious, aviation, medical, and logistics operations as one operational system.
The 2025 hybrid fleet and autonomous air defence
The 2025 review combines crewed ships and aircraft with autonomous surveillance, minehunting, carrier aviation, and a possible uncrewed air-defence successor.
Carrier missile vehicles and the cost in hangar space
A presumed vehicle-mounted missile launcher would compete with aircraft for hangar space and add maintenance, prompting an alternative involving a hired container ship.
Crewed command ships for uncrewed flotillas
Uncrewed missile and sensor vessels still need nearby crews, maintenance, communications resilience, and command ships able to fight when satellite links fail.
Why wartime logistics cannot assume commercial participation
Commercial shipping can augment support in permissive waters, but vessels supplying warships become valuable targets and cannot be treated as guaranteed wartime auxiliaries.
Procurement cycle targets and the integrated-force promise
The 2025 review sets different contract targets for major platforms, modular upgrades, and rapid commercial purchases, then links them to an integrated sensor-and-shooter network.
Risk-first procurement and accountability
A risk-first assessment and a cross-party process could make long procurement promises harder to abandon.
Blaming the EU and Treasury for undelivered promises
A personal interpretation links years of blaming EU rules to the Brexit vote and compares that habit with later blame directed at the Treasury.
Washington Treaty pressure for smaller carriers
The Washington Naval Treaty made cumulative carrier tonnage the main constraint while leaving sub-10,000-ton warships outside a comparable total limit.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Why a similar air group does not make a light carrier a fleet carrier
Air-group size could make a light carrier look comparable on paper, but protection and subdivision still separated it from a true fleet carrier.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Why Britain protected cruiser and sloop numbers
Britain kept smaller warships outside a cumulative limit because cruisers and sloops were essential to protecting maritime trade and imperial communications.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Why HMS Hermes did not commission until 1924
A construction pause delayed the purpose-designed Hermes until 1924, allowing Hosho to enter service first.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
HMS Hermes as a cruiser-carrier presence ship
Hermes paired cruiser-scale machinery and armament with a practical twelve- to eighteen-aircraft group, long range, and enough stability for distant reconnaissance and presence duties.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Designing a Hermes sister under 10,000 tons
A lighter Hermes derivative could trade guns and machinery layout for concentrated protection while retaining a useful 40,000-shaft-horsepower carrier platform.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Why Beatty rejected the cruiser-carrier idea
David Beatty's confidence in shore-based RAF support led him to dismiss repeated small-carrier studies, despite the Royal Navy's need for politically influential leadership.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Beatty's interwar procurement priorities
One interpretation links Beatty's preference for Nelson, Rodney, and lightly protected County-class cruisers, together with few small-ship orders, to his defence of his wartime record.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
What battlecruisers were meant to do at Jutland
Battlecruisers traded armour for speed and were best used for running cruiser actions, fast-wing work, and pursuit instead of reinforcing the Grand Fleet in the battle line.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Judge Type 31 against its intended role
A Tornado F3 analogy leads to a modern naval lesson: Type 31 should be judged as part of a force that uses Type 26 sensors and helicopters against submarines.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Carrier pairs for distant cruiser stations
The counterfactual places small carriers with cruiser squadrons on the China, East Indies, Australasian, Atlantic, and West Indies stations rather than in home waters.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
A carrier programme preserves yards and creates an aviation cadre
Six cruiser-sized carriers would keep underused yards, boiler and gun development, and a much larger pool of carrier-experienced personnel active through the interwar years.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Japan could shift fleet scouting onto small carriers
British cruiser-carriers give Japan a plausible alternative way to remove reconnaissance from fleet-carrier decks while adding torpedo aircraft to its attritional battle plan.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Ranger shows the structural cost of a very light carrier
Ranger's flexing in heavy weather illustrates the structural and seakeeping penalties that can accompany an aggressively light carrier design.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
American scout carriers could move risk away from fleet carriers
The US Navy could use small carriers as an exposed reconnaissance screen, keeping its main striking decks farther back and creating pressure to protect the scouts against enemy attack.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Small carriers become mobile aviation infrastructure
Australian and New Zealand carriers would carry aircraft support into regions where shore infrastructure could not yet sustain a useful interwar air presence.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
How the London Treaty might create a light-carrier allowance
The historical rules counted small carriers against the existing ceiling, while this scenario gives the London negotiations a possible 13,500-ton light-carrier category with a separate national allowance.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
A twelve-ship force approaches Colossus-class capability
A 12,800-ton successor to Hermes could carry roughly forty aircraft; the proposed twelve-ship force uses six-group arithmetic despite an audible list of seven destinations.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Lexington conversions consume half the US carrier allowance
The two Lexington-class conversions use roughly half the US carrier allowance, giving American negotiators a strong reason to protect fleet-carrier tonnage when a light-carrier category is discussed.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
A larger carrier force could return the Fleet Air Arm earlier
More ships, aircraft, and trained personnel strengthen the Royal Navy's institutional case for recovering control of the Fleet Air Arm several years earlier.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Britain and Japan would lead light-carrier adoption
Britain and Japan would make the heaviest use of a light-carrier allowance, while France and Italy might follow, with reconnaissance giving Italy a practical reason.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Overseas bases keep station carriers available
A network of overseas maintenance bases makes it plausible for six of twelve light carriers to remain available, one for each distant station.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Separate allowances could support larger fleet carriers
A separate light-carrier allowance removes pressure to economize on fleet-carrier tonnage, producing a larger Ark Royal and more Yorktown-class ships instead of Ranger and Wasp.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
The light-carrier hull could lead to an aviation support ship
A larger carrier programme could develop an aviation-support variant of the light-carrier hull, anticipating the role later embodied by HMS Unicorn.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Light carriers could spread beyond the major navies
A proven, affordable light-carrier type gives France, Italy, the Netherlands, Greece, Turkey, and South American navies a stronger reason to acquire naval aviation.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Small fleets gain local air cover without tying down fleet carriers
A thirty- to forty-aircraft light carrier can defend a small task group, support convoys, and cover secondary stations while fleet carriers remain concentrated.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Carrier spending still needs a country-specific political case
US congressional funding, Japanese expansion, and Britain's global commitments and shipyard employment create different political cases for light-carrier construction.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
A carrier becomes the cruiser squadron's aviation workshop
A small carrier could remove aviation fuel from cruisers and maintain or replace their seaplanes, making reconnaissance more reliable on distant stations.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Why interwar aircraft did not rely on diesel engines
Diesel aircraft engines were not perceived as offering the rapidly increasing horsepower that dominated interwar aircraft development.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
More carrier exercises could improve later decisions
Additional carriers create more exercises and operational evidence, which could improve later doctrine and procurement decisions without guaranteeing better judgment.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Small carriers could widen Japan's shipyard base
A light-carrier programme could shift work beyond Japan's crowded core naval yards and bring other substantial facilities into carrier construction.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
More carriers also mean more escorts
A wider carrier fleet improves scouting and anti-submarine options, but it deepens the Royal Navy's recurring shortage of destroyers and cruisers for escort duty.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
How carrier continuity could change Hermes and Force Z
A continuing light-carrier production line could replace Hermes before Operation C and give Force Z enough fighter cover to impose severe losses on Japanese torpedo bombers.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Which pre-1922 carrier design works best in the Second World War?
Hermes and Eagle stand out among the few early carrier options because Hermes has long range and Eagle has a large hangar.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Could a heavy-cruiser hull become a small carrier?
A 10,000-ton cruiser-hull carrier would use a Hermes-like layout on a cruiser design.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
Would navies trade battleships for 35,000-ton carriers in 1922?
Navies would not accept the trade because aircraft carriers had not yet displaced battleships as the proven capital-ship capability in 1922.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·
When does an aircraft-carrying submarine make sense?
An M1- or Surcouf-based hangar conversion offers little, while the I-400 concept gives submarine aircraft a clearer limited-strike mission.
From What if the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes had sisters in the 1920s? (Patreon Live) ·