A nuclear CVA-01 pair from the 1970s to the 2010s

How long would two nuclear-powered CVA-01-type carriers remain in Royal Navy service?

They would likely enter service in the 1970s and remain until replacement in the 2010s.

Nuclear propulsion would be a major extension of the CVA-01 concept rather than a short-lived experiment. The ships would enter service during the 1970s and provide the Royal Navy with a durable fleet-carrier core throughout the Cold War. A roughly forty-year life would carry them into the 2010s. Their replacement would become the direct predecessor to a modern British carrier programme rather than leaving the historical gap in fixed-wing carrier aviation.