A navy must be able to crew the ships it buys

An American Nimitz-class carrier may be highly capable, but another navy would still have to supply its roughly 5,000 to 5,200 people. Against the Royal Navy manpower figure cited in the video, one such ship would absorb about one seventh of the entire service including reserves and Royal Marines. The Queen Elizabeth class follows a different design logic, with a normal ship's company of about 679 and a larger total only when its air group and embarked troops are included. Its displacement is roughly three times that of the Invincible class, yet its core ship's company is only slightly larger. The Royal Navy also moved from roughly four carrier-sized vessels to two, a force-structure trade questioned in this analysis even as the lower manning demand makes the new carriers supportable. A replacement design is viable only if the navy can recruit, train, retain, and distribute its crew across the rest of the fleet.