Money makes no sense
You don't have to sell / scrap a ship just because you can't afford to operate it right now. Leave it in a harbour / dock for a couple of years until you can afford to reactivate it.
As I understand it, the Marines will be deployed to the QE, but they could still do exercises from static ships at other times. How "active" does a ship have to be to unload some landing craft, and ride them to a beach somewhere?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
