I reckon you can look at the ships and work out whether the mission matches the rhetoric. For defending sea lanes from piracy, for example, a big deck aircraft carrier or a battleship with jump jet capabilities would be difficult to justify ... OTOH, a pocket carrier with the ability to support, say, 6 to 12 jump jets might be something that could be justified. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
First no one has battleships anymore, second it sounds like you are talking about an escort carrier. Which is the thing you favour on the line below. ;) Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
The idea there was a ship that can come within range of on-shore weapons (eg, shore batteries / cruise missiles / shore based submarines) to project force without committing suicide, which the unarmored big deck aircraft carriers cannot do ...
... which is a mission that is not precisely the first priority for a free republic that is attempting to avoid excessive foreign entanglements.
BB-61 Iowa class Aviation Conversion I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
Maybe they'll start talking about it again if the Iranians manage to sink a Nimitz. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
However, they are blatantly about heading toward a hostile coast under fire, able, in the classic Battleship combat mission, to take fire and keep on going.
The biggest platform where I can see a plausible argument in terms of keeping sea lanes open against piracy and other forms of unruly behavior on the high seas is the Cruiser sized light aircraft carrier, like the Invincible and Illustrious.
Of course, Sarkozy's proposed European naval unit would form a battle group around one of the British light carriers, reportedly because the Charles De Gaulle is in dry dock for repairs. So saying that is the largest platform were a plausible role could be advanced is not the same as saying that no mischief could be done with the platform. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
As for its use, you could say that a ship that allow planes to take off and patrol at sea may be useful to detect piracy and act quickly against it. A free fox in a free henhouse!
... or the Hyuga:
... which is carefully described as a helicopter platform, but then, so was the Illustrious when it was being built ... for political reasons then and now, as I understand. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
