http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... phant.htmlIt’s thanks to the EU we’ve got HMS White Elephant
The aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth is a monument to yet another failed dream of EU integration
No sooner had the Queen cracked a bottle of whisky over the bow of the largest warship ever built for the Royal Navy, the 65,000-ton aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, than we were being told that this was “a proud moment for the whole of Britain”, marking “the return of a sense of national ambition”, reflecting both “a past full of glory” and “a future full of potential”.
Of course, as this long controversial project reached such a symbolic moment, there were mutterings round the edges. Why would it not be until 2020 that any aircraft would be available to fly off it – the largely US-built vertical take-off F-35s, which have been through as many design changes as the ship itself? Why was its vast flight deck not equipped to handle conventional fixed-wing aircraft? Why was it not, like its US counterparts, to be nuclear-powered, but driven by diesel and gas turbines, requiring more refuelling auxiliaries than the Royal Navy can any longer provide? Equally unequipped is the Navy with ships to provide the escort cover this carrier will need.
If in many ways the resulting monster ship is like that proverbial camel – “a horse designed by a committee” – the real question is, obviously, what purpose is it meant to serve? Why was a ship almost as large as the rest of the Navy put together wanted in the first place? The real story behind this goes back to 1996, when we and our EU colleagues were discussing ways to integrate the EU’s defence efforts. Our then defence secretary, Michael Portillo, signed a “Letter of Intent” with his French counterpart setting up 23 Anglo-French naval study groups, including one on “Future aircraft carrier development”.
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