A British carrier-aviation example illustrates why expanding or restoring a naval capability is slower than purchasing equipment. A decade without carrier operations removes a generation of experienced officers and NCOs. The estimate offered is about twenty-five years to recover, against an optimistic suggestion of five years after the gap. Exchange programs may keep particular skills alive without preserving enough experienced personnel or the range of operational thinking. The same institutional constraint applies to China as it grows new amphibious and carrier capabilities: ships can enter service before the organizations around them mature.
Notable Point · 41:48-42:42
Capability gaps erase generations of naval expertise
Britain's carrier gap illustrates why ships can return much faster than the experienced officers, NCOs, and institutional habits needed to operate them well.