The Falklands amphibious force needs ships, craft, and helicopters

Michael Clapp counted HMS Fearless, HMS Intrepid, their landing craft, and the Commando helicopters among the principal assets for landing and sustaining 3 Commando Brigade. The assault ships lacked hangars because prewar planning assumed that a dedicated aviation ship would support them. HMS Hermes instead had to concentrate on Harrier air defence and strike missions. HMS Ocean later supplied a focused landing-platform-helicopter capability, while the Queen Elizabeth-class ships are primarily strike carriers and the replacements for Albion and Bulwark remained unsettled in this discussion. The procurement lesson is that armed forces can remember why a capability exists and still have to pay for it again when governments discard the earlier solution.