I SEE THAT the decision to turn our Atlantic air-
craft carriers into helicopter carriers for anti- submarine work has caused some surprise at NATO headquarters; the only really surprising thing about the decision, I would have thought, is that it took so long to reach. For what possible use could aircraft carriers be in the Atlantic? To begin with, they are so vulnerable that they can never be used within bomber range in any campaign, except where (as at Suez) there is vir- tually no air opposition. They are certainly unsuitable for any operation of the kind that they might conceivably be expected to do in the North Atlantic. It is sometimes argued that a lone air- craft carrier might be able to penetrate with devastating effect where a fleet could not venture; but with radar in its advanced state of develop- ment this is simply wishful thinking. We still have to face the fact that the Navy has never been able to find a strike aircraft that is really suitable for carrier operations, though dozens have been tried without success. I cannot but feel that a carrier is a clumsy expedient for submarine- chasing; but at least it will be better employed in that capacity than pretending to be the nucleus of some mighty task force of the future.
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