Daily Junction.mobi portalWorld · February 3, 2025 · Liam Chen · 12 min
The Royal Navy operates two 65,000-tonne aircraft carriers—the largest warships ever built for Britain. Yet chronic manning shortages, limited aircraft numbers, and eye-watering running costs mean only one carrier can deploy at a time, raising questions about whether the £6.2 billion investment delivers value.
The Royal Navy operates two 65,000-tonne aircraft carriers—HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales—the largest and most powerful warships ever built for Britain. The carriers cost £6.2 billion to build and £500 million per year to operate and maintain. They are designed to project British power globally, operating far from home with a strike group of destroyers, frigates, submarines, and support ships. On paper, they are formidable: each can carry up to 40 aircraft (F-35B stealth fighters and helicopters), sail at 25 knots, and deploy for months at a time. In practice, the carriers face severe challenges: the Royal Navy has only 48 F-35Bs for both carriers (enough for one carrier air group with no reserves), manning shortages mean only one carrier can be operational at a time, and HMS Prince of Wales has suffered repeated mechanical failures, spending more time in dock than at sea. Critics argue the carriers are too large and expensive for the UK's needs, absorbing resources that could fund more frigates, submarines, or aircraft. Supporters counter that carriers are essential for global power projection and deterrence. The debate reflects a fundamental question: what kind of navy does Britain need, and can it afford the one it has built?
The Queen Elizabeth-class carriers are the largest warships ever built for the Royal Navy, dwarfing the previous Invincible-class carriers (20,000 tonnes) that were retired in 2014. Key specifications:
The carriers use a ski-jump ramp and short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) design, which allows F-35B fighters to take off in a short distance and land vertically. This is simpler and cheaper than the catapult and arrestor wire (CATOBAR) system used by US and French carriers, but limits the carriers to the F-35B variant (the F-35C carrier variant, which has longer range and can carry more weapons, requires catapults and cannot operate from UK carriers).
HMS Queen Elizabeth was commissioned in December 2017 and declared operational in December 2020. She has completed:
HMS Queen Elizabeth has proven reliable, with no major mechanical failures. She is currently the Royal Navy's primary operational carrier.
HMS Prince of Wales was commissioned in December 2019 but has suffered repeated mechanical problems:
HMS Prince of Wales has spent more time in dock than at sea since commissioning, raising questions about build quality and reliability. The repeated failures have been embarrassing for the Royal Navy and the shipbuilder (BAE Systems and the Aircraft Carrier Alliance).
The carriers are designed to operate the F-35B Lightning II, the short take-off and vertical landing variant of the US-built stealth fighter. The F-35B is one of the most advanced combat aircraft in the world, with:
However, the UK has ordered only 48 F-35Bs (delivered by 2025), with an option for up to 90 more. This is a problem:
A typical carrier air group consists of:
With only 48 F-35Bs, the Royal Navy can equip one carrier with 24 jets, leaving 24 for training, maintenance, and attrition reserves. This is a bare minimum—most navies aim for a 2:1 ratio of aircraft to deployed jets to allow for maintenance, upgrades, and losses.
The UK cannot deploy both carriers simultaneously with full air groups. If both carriers were operational, each would carry only 12 F-35Bs—too few to be effective.
The government has not committed to buying more F-35Bs beyond the initial 48. The 2021 Defence Command Paper stated the UK would "explore options" for additional aircraft but made no firm commitment. Each F-35B costs around £100 million (including development costs), so 90 aircraft would cost £9 billion—a sum the Ministry of Defence does not have.
Without more F-35Bs, the carriers will always be under-utilised, operating with smaller air groups than they were designed for.
The Royal Navy has 33,000 personnel (as of January 2025), against a target of 35,000—a 6% shortfall. The shortage is particularly acute in critical specialisms:
The carriers require 1,600 personnel each (679 ship's company plus 915 air wing). With only 33,000 personnel total, the Royal Navy can crew one carrier plus a strike group (destroyers, frigates, submarines, support ships), but not two carriers simultaneously.
This is why the Royal Navy operates a "one in, one out" model: one carrier is operational while the other is in refit, maintenance, or reduced readiness. The Navy cannot surge both carriers in a crisis, unlike the US Navy, which can deploy multiple carriers simultaneously.
The Royal Navy faces the same recruitment and retention problems as the Army:
The Navy loses around 10% of personnel per year, and recruitment has not kept pace.
The two carriers cost £6.2 billion to build (£3.1 billion each), making them the most expensive defence programme in UK history apart from the Trident nuclear deterrent. The cost includes:
The carriers cost around £500 million per year to operate and maintain (£250 million each), including:
Over a 50-year service life, the total cost of the carriers (build plus operating costs) will be around £31 billion (£6.2 billion build + £25 billion operating costs). This is equivalent to:
In May 2021, HMS Queen Elizabeth led a carrier strike group on a seven-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific, the Royal Navy's most ambitious deployment since the Falklands War in 1982. The strike group included:
The deployment covered 26,000 nautical miles, visited 40 countries, and conducted exercises with the US, Japan, South Korea, India, and other partners. It was designed to demonstrate:
The deployment was operationally successful:
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