What ratio are we thinking for TAC/ESC? I love to use 3 CAS/ 1 FTR for the CAS wings.
Ruddy
Ruddy
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i'd go with the 3 to 1 ratio as well. That would mean tactical command would need 2 escort fighters with our current forces.
add one for strategic, plus the naval bombers when they get to 3 wings....
add one for strategic, plus the naval bombers when they get to 3 wings....
Actually that might not be necessary for the Navs. If they're attacking targets at sea, then it's unlikely they'll run into fighter opposition. It can also be rare to meet fighters over harbors. Most likely (historically as well) they'll receive more damage due to AA guns than fighters.
Either way against Germany, fighters have the range to cover the North Sea ports.
Either way against Germany, fighters have the range to cover the North Sea ports.
10th February 1938
War Office
"OK, the Middle East, the 8th Army has arrived?" Sir Cyril looked at the head of that section.
"Yes Sir. The Second Transport Group reached Alexandria harbour yesterday afternoon and unloading is now complete. The 8th will set up in Alexandria and the Western Desert Force has pushed it's 2nd Infantry Division forward to El Alamein."
Sir Cyril tried to remember his last posting in Egypt. "I'm sorry Colonel but where exactly is that?"
"Around sixty miles west of Alexandria Sir, the local geography means that any invader from the west has to pass through the pass there to get to the Delta. By occupying it Wavell has taken up the best defensive position in the theatre."
"Well with one Infantry Division in his command I guess there's not much more he can do for now. Alright, what's next?"
War Office
"OK, the Middle East, the 8th Army has arrived?" Sir Cyril looked at the head of that section.
"Yes Sir. The Second Transport Group reached Alexandria harbour yesterday afternoon and unloading is now complete. The 8th will set up in Alexandria and the Western Desert Force has pushed it's 2nd Infantry Division forward to El Alamein."
Sir Cyril tried to remember his last posting in Egypt. "I'm sorry Colonel but where exactly is that?"
"Around sixty miles west of Alexandria Sir, the local geography means that any invader from the west has to pass through the pass there to get to the Delta. By occupying it Wavell has taken up the best defensive position in the theatre."
"Well with one Infantry Division in his command I guess there's not much more he can do for now. Alright, what's next?"
later the same day,
War Office
What a day, it had been one meeting after another all day. It wasn't with good news that he faced his colleagues from the other services.
"Well, once again the Prime Minister has put a proposal to us in the form of an ultimatum." He leafed through his files and pulled out copies of the memo for the participants. While an aide distributed them he continued, "You'll see here that Mr Chamberlain has offered to build two fleet carriers for the Admiralty. However he has left the means up to us... and there is a catch."
Sir Cyril heard the gasp of the young Admiral from halfway down the table however pushed on before the airman had a chance to explode in rage.
"The Prime Minister proposes to build two fleet carriers of the most modern design but unfortunately has determined that the improved models mean that these new ships will replace the three Hermes class carriers currently in service. Decommission of the existing ships is to happen at the completion of the construction project. The PM has stated that budgetry decisions make this a necessary decision and has provided his own figures to show how the FAA is not disadvantaged by this decision.
"What is to be decided today is if the two carriers are built in serial or parrallel. The PM has said that if they are built serially then the three Hermes won't need to be decommissioned until the second new carrier is completed in mid 1941. Alternatively, if we decide to built them concurrently then the Hermes carriers will be decommissioned in late 1939.
"Personally I think he is bluffing. I think he is baulking at the cost of building them concurrently and so he is try to force us to decide to build only one carrier now and one later. I believe he will use that time to try and stop the second ship from being laid down.
"I'll open the floor up to debate..."
Sir Cyril leaned back and waited for the vitriol to fly, why had he not brought the water cannon to this meeting!?!
War Office
What a day, it had been one meeting after another all day. It wasn't with good news that he faced his colleagues from the other services.
"Well, once again the Prime Minister has put a proposal to us in the form of an ultimatum." He leafed through his files and pulled out copies of the memo for the participants. While an aide distributed them he continued, "You'll see here that Mr Chamberlain has offered to build two fleet carriers for the Admiralty. However he has left the means up to us... and there is a catch."
Sir Cyril heard the gasp of the young Admiral from halfway down the table however pushed on before the airman had a chance to explode in rage.
"The Prime Minister proposes to build two fleet carriers of the most modern design but unfortunately has determined that the improved models mean that these new ships will replace the three Hermes class carriers currently in service. Decommission of the existing ships is to happen at the completion of the construction project. The PM has stated that budgetry decisions make this a necessary decision and has provided his own figures to show how the FAA is not disadvantaged by this decision.
"What is to be decided today is if the two carriers are built in serial or parrallel. The PM has said that if they are built serially then the three Hermes won't need to be decommissioned until the second new carrier is completed in mid 1941. Alternatively, if we decide to built them concurrently then the Hermes carriers will be decommissioned in late 1939.
"Personally I think he is bluffing. I think he is baulking at the cost of building them concurrently and so he is try to force us to decide to build only one carrier now and one later. I believe he will use that time to try and stop the second ship from being laid down.
"I'll open the floor up to debate..."
Sir Cyril leaned back and waited for the vitriol to fly, why had he not brought the water cannon to this meeting!?!
OOC: why that mr chamberlain is a sneaky one!!
decommission?? just when europe is at its most dangerous!
i hope the admiralty fights this...
decommission?? just when europe is at its most dangerous!
i hope the admiralty fights this...
Doesn't the decommissioning of a perfectly functional ship go against all traditions?
Ruddy
Ruddy
well if mr chamberlain feels this is a safe time it isn't that odd unfortunatley...
dury - would it be ok to have a look at our ministers? are we even able to debate changes?
dury - would it be ok to have a look at our ministers? are we even able to debate changes?
All OOC: Changes to Ministers? Sure we can discuss this but I guess I'd need a game reason for doing it. We made some changes at the start of 1937 but I don't think there are any better options available in 1938.
Are you interested in military changes? Sir Cyril being shot as the messenger of bad news perhaps?
Decommissioning old ships happened regularly. Historically the Brits kept their old carriers in work however their uses were limited.
He is a sneaky so and so but don't forget that here in 1938 there have been no major aggressive moves from any of the major powers on the continent. As wary of Germany as Neville is he's still thinking everything can be handled diplomatically and economically. Neville is just attempting to get some economic pay offs for his purchases.
It seems quite reasonable to him to have a set number of the big expensive ships (who haven't proved their worth yet). And as Neville set out in his memo, the actual number of aircraft carried would probably stay about the same, while the ships themselves would be far more versatile.
If the Chiefs hold their nerve and go for parallel production I'm sure he'll give way... I think.
Dury.
Are you interested in military changes? Sir Cyril being shot as the messenger of bad news perhaps?
Decommissioning old ships happened regularly. Historically the Brits kept their old carriers in work however their uses were limited.
He is a sneaky so and so but don't forget that here in 1938 there have been no major aggressive moves from any of the major powers on the continent. As wary of Germany as Neville is he's still thinking everything can be handled diplomatically and economically. Neville is just attempting to get some economic pay offs for his purchases.
It seems quite reasonable to him to have a set number of the big expensive ships (who haven't proved their worth yet). And as Neville set out in his memo, the actual number of aircraft carried would probably stay about the same, while the ships themselves would be far more versatile.
If the Chiefs hold their nerve and go for parallel production I'm sure he'll give way... I think.
Dury.
well sir cyril has done a fine job tbh.
i just wanted to know whose in charge of the services mainly, and what kind of minister they are
plus who is representing the navy?
i just wanted to know whose in charge of the services mainly, and what kind of minister they are
plus who is representing the navy?
OOC: This talk of escort fighters has left me wondering what the RAF thoughts were on the defensibility of multi-engined bombers. I know the USAAF thought that the B-17s were fully capable of defending themselves, but I don't know the RAF's attitude. We certainly know we need ESCs, but would our alter-egos?
Ruddy
Ruddy
its a good point ruddy, i think historically the general feeling was 'the bomber always gets through' and i'm pretty certain the RAF didnt have many till later in the war.
If our fighter strength was much larger and thus could ensure air superiority over the enemy, we could reconsider having so many escs.
But i believe it to be essential that tactical and strategic wings are protected.
If our fighter strength was much larger and thus could ensure air superiority over the enemy, we could reconsider having so many escs.
But i believe it to be essential that tactical and strategic wings are protected.
Air Ministary,
London
11:30 AM
Sir Clive sighed, he knew that this work had to be done, but he yearned for the open warters and sea air blowing into an open bridge. That was all in the past now, and he could no longer look up to see a wide vista of imperial smoke stacks of his beloved Dreadnoughts all he could see were the smokestacks of the Whitehall buldings.
He looked again at the Hugh Dowding's work on what the man called "Battlefield Interdiction" it was quite un eventful, but it did have some nice redeming features. He had worked further on the idea of "Airbourne assaults" and laid out some of the basic ground work (Enable Assaults Eff: 30%) and also some new and interesting ways of rotating rosters in the medium TAC & NAV bombers to imporve efficency and morale TAC & NAV: MaxOrg & Morale +5%. The, ever useful, dowding had also requested to go on with the research into how best to employ Wolfe's "Flying Artillery".
He saw a note from one of his subordinate (OOC: Sorry Funky, can't remember your charaters name ) suggesing that the ideas behind the 'Close Air Support' should not be developed too much. Sir Clive quickly drafted a response to the man asking exactly why. Wolfe was under that assumption that working on ideas for light and medium bombers would lead quickly to new ideas for fighter command. Also as the RAF were going to be building plenty of small bombers, if that dammed bean counter would allow it, and they would need new ideas and grand plans on how to best utalise the idea.
He also mulled the idea of using long-range fighters to escort the larger bombers, this ws something that had come from the civil war in Spain. It seemed that the quicker and more manoverable fighters dismised the idea that "the bomber will always get through", worryingly it seemed that it was truer the larger the bomber got. He quickly wrote a memo for his staff to disscus;
1. The short range bombers (CAS) should be adaquatly covered by the Spits, especially if we get some for offensive opperations.
2. Medium bombers (NAV & TAC) what will the exact role be, can normal fighters patrol over Wilhelmshafen?
3. Large bombers, if we are not going to be producing large numbers of these should we still research fighters to escort them?
With a sly look at the clock Wolfe suddenly jumped out of his seat, unsettling some of the many papers upon his desk. "Jenkins!, get the car or I shall be late!"
Wolfe considered the problem and then spoke with something of a smirk, "Well gentelmen the answer is quite obvious to myself" the old sea-dog took a sip of his excellent brandy and continued "We should advise Neville to build them in serial, I don't think that there are many here that do not think that a war is long in comming. By 1941 we may well be in a position of conflict, this is after all what we have been planning for." Wolfe couldn't help himself and he took a long drag on his fine cigar befor continueing, "So if we are at war in '41 he can not really ask to de-com two fleet cariers, and if were not at war then by that time there will have been a election. As much as I like the current governement, there is nothing to say that it will be in placew by then. As a last fought by that year the older carriers may well be totally obsolete as well."
Wolfe's words, like his cigar somke, were left to drift on the currents as all of the men in the room decided how to respond.
London
11:30 AM
Sir Clive sighed, he knew that this work had to be done, but he yearned for the open warters and sea air blowing into an open bridge. That was all in the past now, and he could no longer look up to see a wide vista of imperial smoke stacks of his beloved Dreadnoughts all he could see were the smokestacks of the Whitehall buldings.
He looked again at the Hugh Dowding's work on what the man called "Battlefield Interdiction" it was quite un eventful, but it did have some nice redeming features. He had worked further on the idea of "Airbourne assaults" and laid out some of the basic ground work (Enable Assaults Eff: 30%) and also some new and interesting ways of rotating rosters in the medium TAC & NAV bombers to imporve efficency and morale TAC & NAV: MaxOrg & Morale +5%. The, ever useful, dowding had also requested to go on with the research into how best to employ Wolfe's "Flying Artillery".
He saw a note from one of his subordinate (OOC: Sorry Funky, can't remember your charaters name
) suggesing that the ideas behind the 'Close Air Support' should not be developed too much. Sir Clive quickly drafted a response to the man asking exactly why. Wolfe was under that assumption that working on ideas for light and medium bombers would lead quickly to new ideas for fighter command. Also as the RAF were going to be building plenty of small bombers, if that dammed bean counter would allow it, and they would need new ideas and grand plans on how to best utalise the idea.He also mulled the idea of using long-range fighters to escort the larger bombers, this ws something that had come from the civil war in Spain. It seemed that the quicker and more manoverable fighters dismised the idea that "the bomber will always get through", worryingly it seemed that it was truer the larger the bomber got. He quickly wrote a memo for his staff to disscus;
1. The short range bombers (CAS) should be adaquatly covered by the Spits, especially if we get some for offensive opperations.
2. Medium bombers (NAV & TAC) what will the exact role be, can normal fighters patrol over Wilhelmshafen?
3. Large bombers, if we are not going to be producing large numbers of these should we still research fighters to escort them?
With a sly look at the clock Wolfe suddenly jumped out of his seat, unsettling some of the many papers upon his desk. "Jenkins!, get the car or I shall be late!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wolfe considered the problem and then spoke with something of a smirk, "Well gentelmen the answer is quite obvious to myself" the old sea-dog took a sip of his excellent brandy and continued "We should advise Neville to build them in serial, I don't think that there are many here that do not think that a war is long in comming. By 1941 we may well be in a position of conflict, this is after all what we have been planning for." Wolfe couldn't help himself and he took a long drag on his fine cigar befor continueing, "So if we are at war in '41 he can not really ask to de-com two fleet cariers, and if were not at war then by that time there will have been a election. As much as I like the current governement, there is nothing to say that it will be in placew by then. As a last fought by that year the older carriers may well be totally obsolete as well."
Wolfe's words, like his cigar somke, were left to drift on the currents as all of the men in the room decided how to respond.
Sir Stanley Goodall looked around looked up from the notes he'd been making. As Director of Naval Construction this was very much his field. While Lord Wolfe had made good points there were a few thing he had missed.
"Gentlemen I feel lumping together all three carriers in one class is misleading at best, downright wrong at worst. Hermes and Argus are both thirty years old but the Ark left the shipyard barely a year ago!*"
"Let us be honest with ourselves here; the older boats are barely fit for training purposes. Hermes was the first purpose built carrier in the world and frankly it shows. Neither of the two elder ships would be a great loss to the fleet and it's not worth fighting our political masters over their fate."
"Ark Royal however is a different kettle of fish entirely, she's almost brand new and has vast modernisation potential. While she may have been built on a budget, and I think we all know who set that budget, she's still a good ship."
"With that in mind I would propose we serial build the new fleet carriers while putting Ark Royal through a major refit. As we have been offered the parallel option there is clearly the funding for running two projects and it means the fleet doesn't lose overall numbers. I also believe it will find favour with the Prime Minister, not for any military reason of course but for another reason; Scrapping a virtually brand new ship would be a colossal waste of resources and one which occurred on his watch as Chancellor. For a money minded man the economic case is strong, not to mention the political damage to his reputation by admitting he'd got it wrong and 'Wasted' so much public money."
Sir Goodall leaned back. He didn't like thinking about everything in money terms, but he'd learnt the hard way it was all the PM cared about. If military reasons didn't convince him maybe economic and political ones would.
---
*Can't recall exact date
OOC: Basically I'm suggesting scrap the Ark in game, put a Lev II/III carrier in the build queue then edit the save to reduce the build time/cost by 75/50% depending on what we choose.
As for why well I just can't justify to myself (in character)
A) Why Ark Royal was built like that and
B) That a man as tight-arsed as Nev would scrap only two(ish) years after he approved buying it. He'd see it as a terrible waste and would take a great deal of political flak over it from all sides.
I'd also go along with Wolfey on escort fighters. What do we think they'll be doing? CAS isn't long ranged enough so can be covered with normal fighters, we aren't doing STRATs and as Addy rightly says NAVs wont need them over the North Sea/Atlantic. That only leaves TACs, so what's the plan for them and why can't normal fighters do a similar job? (We might need an RAF meeting to sort that out )
"Gentlemen I feel lumping together all three carriers in one class is misleading at best, downright wrong at worst. Hermes and Argus are both thirty years old but the Ark left the shipyard barely a year ago!*"
"Let us be honest with ourselves here; the older boats are barely fit for training purposes. Hermes was the first purpose built carrier in the world and frankly it shows. Neither of the two elder ships would be a great loss to the fleet and it's not worth fighting our political masters over their fate."
"Ark Royal however is a different kettle of fish entirely, she's almost brand new and has vast modernisation potential. While she may have been built on a budget, and I think we all know who set that budget, she's still a good ship."
"With that in mind I would propose we serial build the new fleet carriers while putting Ark Royal through a major refit. As we have been offered the parallel option there is clearly the funding for running two projects and it means the fleet doesn't lose overall numbers. I also believe it will find favour with the Prime Minister, not for any military reason of course but for another reason; Scrapping a virtually brand new ship would be a colossal waste of resources and one which occurred on his watch as Chancellor. For a money minded man the economic case is strong, not to mention the political damage to his reputation by admitting he'd got it wrong and 'Wasted' so much public money."
Sir Goodall leaned back. He didn't like thinking about everything in money terms, but he'd learnt the hard way it was all the PM cared about. If military reasons didn't convince him maybe economic and political ones would.
---
*Can't recall exact date
OOC: Basically I'm suggesting scrap the Ark in game, put a Lev II/III carrier in the build queue then edit the save to reduce the build time/cost by 75/50% depending on what we choose.
As for why well I just can't justify to myself (in character)
A) Why Ark Royal was built like that and
B) That a man as tight-arsed as Nev would scrap only two(ish) years after he approved buying it. He'd see it as a terrible waste and would take a great deal of political flak over it from all sides.
I'd also go along with Wolfey on escort fighters. What do we think they'll be doing? CAS isn't long ranged enough so can be covered with normal fighters, we aren't doing STRATs and as Addy rightly says NAVs wont need them over the North Sea/Atlantic. That only leaves TACs, so what's the plan for them and why can't normal fighters do a similar job? (We might need an RAF meeting to sort that out
)
OOC: Pippy, I like that idea about the Ark Royal. I'll admit to being greedy and wanting a Class III.
As far as ESC's go their main benefit will only occur when and if the RAF decides to bomb Berlin.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Admiral Lyons thought about what Sir Stanley said for a moment and then cleared his throat, "I'm not completely certain, but the Ark Royal entered service closer to 6 months ago. If anything Sir Stanley, that makes your point even more valid. My question is this, how extensive a refit do you plan for the Ark Royal?"
"Ultimately with both Hermes and Argus, it would be questionable whether or not they would adequately perfom fleet operations, not to mention their small air groups. Add to that that the gain could mean a significant increase in the size of the Fleet Air Arm."
The young Admiral then addressed the rest, "I still think that the new fleet carriers should be built in parallel. If the two carriers take approximately three years to complete in series, it's quite possible that the Admiralty could have a new carrier design by then that would be among the 'favored' designs."
"The situation is different though with a refit of the Ark Royal. What I propose is this. Once we sort out the details, we go ahead with the refit on the Ark Royal, and go ahead with our new design tentively named Illustrious. We go ahead and place the order for the second carrier, but place no funding immediately until there is enough budget from the various builds the Admiralty already has finishes."
"Now with the air groups, we should keep them to form the core of the new airgroups forming instead of moving them somewhere else.* Also we probably should keep one of the old carriers for training purposes (OOC: not necessarily in game) since we will greatly be expanding the Fleet Air Arm."
Admiral Lyons shrugged, "Not the most economically sound, but there's enough saved with the CAGs to possibly make it worthwhile."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*We'd probably save something like 9 IC keeping the CAGs if not a bit more.
With the Surrey heavy cruisers ending in May and the Tribal destroyers ending in June, that might be possible as well.
As far as ESC's go their main benefit will only occur when and if the RAF decides to bomb Berlin.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Admiral Lyons thought about what Sir Stanley said for a moment and then cleared his throat, "I'm not completely certain, but the Ark Royal entered service closer to 6 months ago. If anything Sir Stanley, that makes your point even more valid. My question is this, how extensive a refit do you plan for the Ark Royal?"
"Ultimately with both Hermes and Argus, it would be questionable whether or not they would adequately perfom fleet operations, not to mention their small air groups. Add to that that the gain could mean a significant increase in the size of the Fleet Air Arm."
The young Admiral then addressed the rest, "I still think that the new fleet carriers should be built in parallel. If the two carriers take approximately three years to complete in series, it's quite possible that the Admiralty could have a new carrier design by then that would be among the 'favored' designs."
"The situation is different though with a refit of the Ark Royal. What I propose is this. Once we sort out the details, we go ahead with the refit on the Ark Royal, and go ahead with our new design tentively named Illustrious. We go ahead and place the order for the second carrier, but place no funding immediately until there is enough budget from the various builds the Admiralty already has finishes."
"Now with the air groups, we should keep them to form the core of the new airgroups forming instead of moving them somewhere else.* Also we probably should keep one of the old carriers for training purposes (OOC: not necessarily in game) since we will greatly be expanding the Fleet Air Arm."
Admiral Lyons shrugged, "Not the most economically sound, but there's enough saved with the CAGs to possibly make it worthwhile."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*We'd probably save something like 9 IC keeping the CAGs if not a bit more.
With the Surrey heavy cruisers ending in May and the Tribal destroyers ending in June, that might be possible as well.
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OOC: Sir Stanley is a naval architect not an officer so measures a ship's age from launching (when the hull is first wet and loaded) not commissioning. That is my excuse for getting the date wrong and I'm sticking to it!
As for the carrier build, the series build keeps Hermes and Argus in service for longer and who knows what might happen in the war? Historically Argus was called back from the reserve role due to losses, it's not unthinkable the same might happen to us. Just something to consider, although I'm sure our Admiralty will avoid such a situation.
As for escorts, unless we have a better use than escorting our three lone Strategic groups is the investment worth it? And that's both IC cost and considerable use of a research slot.
As for the carrier build, the series build keeps Hermes and Argus in service for longer and who knows what might happen in the war? Historically Argus was called back from the reserve role due to losses, it's not unthinkable the same might happen to us. Just something to consider, although I'm sure our Admiralty will avoid such a situation.
As for escorts, unless we have a better use than escorting our three lone Strategic groups is the investment worth it? And that's both IC cost and considerable use of a research slot.
OOC: enjoyable debate! I back the director of naval construction, hopefully we can hold off scrapping the old rustbuckets for as long as possible.
el pip - tactical command needs escort fighters as a vital addition, however i totally understand we can wait to equip the strats. When our sparkling new wellington comes out it musn't be hindered in range by having (spitfire) fighter cover.
Lets at least cross one bridge by researching it soon!
sirclivewolfe - versatility seems to be the tactical role, although supporting the british army in the field must be the main concern. If it is fufilling this job then it is imperative in any european war that they must have escorts.
Plus i'm pretty sure fighters won't reach the german coast from our east anglia bases.
el pip - tactical command needs escort fighters as a vital addition, however i totally understand we can wait to equip the strats. When our sparkling new wellington comes out it musn't be hindered in range by having (spitfire) fighter cover.
Lets at least cross one bridge by researching it soon!
sirclivewolfe - versatility seems to be the tactical role, although supporting the british army in the field must be the main concern. If it is fufilling this job then it is imperative in any european war that they must have escorts.
Plus i'm pretty sure fighters won't reach the german coast from our east anglia bases.
Sir Cyril listened to the too and fro and tried to read the currents. The opinion of the Navy man obviously had to hold the most sway. After all, this was his area of expertise. He decided to see if he could push people towards a consensus in the Admiral's favour.
"Gentlemen, one point I'd make is that it seems as though we believe the PM is placing himself in a bind by attempting to decommission the Ark Royal. Do we think that we could call his bluff and he may keep it to avoid the political furore?
"The older two ships are probably ready to be taken off the front line anyway, especially the way Admiral Lyons works them! Refitting the Ark Royal may be an option but my understanding is you're still not going to get much more out of it.
"Lets get the two new ships laid down and hope the political situation assists us.I don't believe we need a change in government as Lord Wolfe suggested but many other events may influence Mr Chamberlain to change his mind."
------------------------------------
OOC: The Ark Royal was built cheaply at the orders of the then Navy chief Sir Humphrey. It's not a primitive fleet carrier but more like an escort carrier, size and specs are mainly set. No amount of refitting would get it above a Level II.
"Gentlemen, one point I'd make is that it seems as though we believe the PM is placing himself in a bind by attempting to decommission the Ark Royal. Do we think that we could call his bluff and he may keep it to avoid the political furore?
"The older two ships are probably ready to be taken off the front line anyway, especially the way Admiral Lyons works them! Refitting the Ark Royal may be an option but my understanding is you're still not going to get much more out of it.
"Lets get the two new ships laid down and hope the political situation assists us.I don't believe we need a change in government as Lord Wolfe suggested but many other events may influence Mr Chamberlain to change his mind."
------------------------------------
OOC: The Ark Royal was built cheaply at the orders of the then Navy chief Sir Humphrey. It's not a primitive fleet carrier but more like an escort carrier, size and specs are mainly set. No amount of refitting would get it above a Level II.