Abraham
I am being far less ambitious. It is 1970 and Nixon/Kissinger are keen to show NATO Europe
that the US of A still loves it despite Vietnam. For "lease" read give. There were plenty of
F8s knocking around, and we are only talking 20 or so.
Sealord
In my "what-if" the 1970 Tory Government does not go in for Barbernomics and avoids much of the
problems of it real life counterpart (after all this is "what-if").
However, even if the 70s go South there is plenty of wriggle room for the RN.
First up, lose awful Blake and Tiger conversions. The Seakings can move across to the flttops or even some of the newer RFAs built in the period. Their gunnery is no longer necessary with Bucs around.
Second, convert fewer surface ships to Exocet, again less necessary with Carriers.
Thirdly, no awful and expensive Sea Harrier.
I envisage the two 70s carriers (Illustrious and Ark Royal) being built instead of the CCH Invincibles but being as austere as possible. Like Hermes they can always become ASW/Commando carriers.
However, they would draw on the US CVV programme to have a modern steam plant and catapults. A variant of Jaguar and Tornado like the numerous sketches in the Buttler books could be developed both as a Jaguar/Phantom replacement and as a multi role naval combat aircraft. If all else fails we can go in with the French and develop the Super Etendard and later the Rafale.
Such a programme would be cheaper and require less manpower than the bodging the navy had to do in the 70s. The resulting two ships would have more capability and come in at roughly the same cost as the three Invincibles.
But, this is fun, not holy writ..
