SIR,—The Government's decision not to build a new carrier defies
the many lessons of naval history over the past thirty years. This is not a question of whether the Royal Navy or the RAF will play the major defence role in the 1970s. It is simply a question of whether there shall be an ocean-going navy at all. It is folly to suggest, as does the Defence Review, that the only indispensable role for carriers and carrier-borne aircraft will be the landing or withdrawal of troops against sophisticated opposition outside the range of land-based air cover. Alas, the many lives that have been lost at sea
prove only too well the indispensable need for a fleet to have air cover at all times. For this role, as well as for close support operations of forces ashore, only naval aircraft, with naval-trained crews and immediately available, have been found to be fully effective. This %%ill be as true in the 1970s as it is today. guided missiles and all.
Carrier-borne operations require a high degree of sophistication and training built up over many years. Britain has led the world in these techniques, together with the angled deck. steam catapult and mirror landing :rids. All this the Labour govern- ment now proposes to throw overboard. Sabotage is
not too strong a word to use. R. S. I. HAWKINS The House on the Green.
Little Chart For. tal. Ashford. Kent
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