CVA-01 was planned at roughly 54,500 tons standard and 63,000 tons full load, with a long flight deck and a large crew requirement. Its proposed air group combined 18 Phantoms, 18 Buccaneers, Gannet airborne-early-warning aircraft, Sea King anti-submarine helicopters, and Wessex support aircraft. Sea Dart and short-range missile systems would have contributed to the carrier's own layered defence. CVA-01 was the center of a wider system: the four-carrier plan implied multiple Type 82 air-defence escorts, anti-submarine frigates, and auxiliaries for each group. The force was intended to keep Britain a major contributor to NATO's Strike Fleet Atlantic rather than merely preserve a national prestige ship.
Chapter · 2:13:01-2:17:26
CVA-01 was planned as the center of a carrier-group system
CVA-01's dimensions and air group lead into the wider plan for four British carrier groups with air-defence destroyers, anti-submarine frigates, and auxiliaries.