What four Queen Elizabeth-class carriers would demand

How much better off would the Royal Navy be with four Queen Elizabeth-class carriers?

Much better if accompanied by the extensive escorts, support ships, and aircraft required; the carriers alone would not create persistent global capability.

The answer estimates that four Queen Elizabeth-class carriers would require about sixteen Type 45 destroyers, twenty-four Type 23-type frigates, support ships, and a much larger F-35 force. That scale could keep one carrier available in the Indian Ocean and another ready for North Atlantic work while the remaining ships trained or refitted. Buying the decks alone would not create that persistence because escorts, aircraft, sailors, maintenance, and replenishment determine usable availability. Governments would also have to reverse post-Cold-War industrial consolidation and the belief that major-power war had disappeared. The reward is enduring global presence, but only through a complete carrier system rather than four prestige hulls.