Re: There it is...!
The QE-class carrier design doesn't have steam boilers to power regular catapults, it uses gas turbines to generate electricity to the propeller drive motors. It doesn't have enough electrical generating capacity to provide power for an electric catapult system like the newest American Ford-class nuclear carrier designs do.
Older nuclear aircraft carriers (pre-Ford class USN carriers and the French hangar-queen nuclear carriers) had intermediate steam production for catapults, older British non-nuclear aircraft carriers burned oil to make steam for turbine propulsion and could bleed off that steam to drive catapults.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
