Aircraft Carriers in Europe: From an Expensive Tradition to an Inexpensive Universality

... during the 2000s and their replacement by a very small number of newly commissioned vessels of the same class. For example, Great Britain got rid of two of its three Invincible-class aircraft carriers: the lead ship HMS Invincible was decommissioned ... ... Carlos I, commissioned in autumn 2010, appears to be only large aircraft carrier of the Spanish Navy. Against this background, Italy looks to be quite an exception. Despite repeated declared reductions of the military budget in 2012 and early 2013, the ...