Re: Another wee problem
Preventing admirals and politicians from playing with "their" train set is, in this instance, a good thing.
Oh, definitely - with you on that.
My point was different - the overall "specialized white elephant" building across all of the Navy and to a lesser extent other forces.
If you look at USA, Russia, French, Chinese subs even the nuclear deterrent ones carry torpedoes and can launch cruise missiles out of their torpedo tubes. While that is not their normal function they can be in extreme circumstances pressed to give a hand in need as a normal attack sub.
The official spec for the Drednaught when I looked it up did not list any torpedo tubes so it looked like yet another typical Navy dedicated white elephant. Just like the destroyers and frigates which can do only AA or only ASW and have no anti-ship or land attack capability. Just like the two ultra-bespoke special carrier white elephants which have no aircraft for them and can launch only one ultra bespoke model of aircraft. Just like...
In this day and age even a Tier 1 fleet, army or air force cannot afford dedicated white elephants. At the same time - this is the only thing UK is building and buying. No wonder the budget does not add up.