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 ... ... readiness in 6-8 years at the earliest, while France – by the second half of the 2020s. Second, the rear echelon powers (Spain, Italy) are actually catching up, and in some respects even surpassing the leaders, namely, in the number of units of this ...