Crazy Idea of the Week

Since Canadian Forces Maratime Command needs to replace the Preserver and Protecteur, and nothing is happening yet with the replacement vessel, how about buying a used ship?

The HMS Ark Royal is available for sale at the moment, though June 13th is the final date for tenders in the auction process.  

• Yes, the Ark Royal is an aircraft carrier
• Yes, the last used ships we bought from the Brits seem to be have sold to use by some bent East End used ship salesman.
• Yes I am a pacifist by faith and have no real business talking about anything to do with military procurement.

But I think the idea has some merit and here is why.

The size of the Ark Royal is large enough to have the storage capacity for what is needed for the Canadian Forces on mission.  The ship would have to be modified from what it has been used for to be able to take on the full role as a supply ship by changing sections of the ship into various forms of storage.

Using the Ark Royal would allow for more space for Canadian Forces personnel on board because it has been designed for a larger crew by about 350.   It could take something more of a floating Canadian Forces Base role as it would have the space to house a regiment.

The Ark Royal is a good design for hosting helicopters and could also be able to provide a platform for some F-35s.    We seem to be hell bent to buy them, so why not have a platform that they could use?

The nature of the sort of missions the Canadian Forces could take on would be expanded if they were to have the Ark Royal as a supply ship with other uses.  

One of the two Protecteur class ships could retired sooner rather than later.  I suspect that there would still be a role for the future Joint Support Ship, but reduce the need to two instead of three.   Buying the Ark Royal would be much cheaper than building one of the new ships.

OK, post away about why my idea is crazy and have no idea what I am talking about.