There are sod all ships capable of carrying flag staff anyway. All carriers gone, Albion mothballed, Ocean falling to bits like the last carriers, and the type 22 frigates which were by far the best ships in the fleet, all now stripped and sold for scrap metal! An absolute waste, and I served on Cumberland, Campbeltown, and Chatham. Went on after they had been decommissioned to remove weapons systems and sensors, and it was really surreal. Not a nice feeling being on a completely dead ship, walking round with a head torch with nothing switched on. The government has got caught up in the idea that modern and future warfare is only going to be fought against extremists and terrorists. Thats the reason why they think there is no immediate need for carriers, as Bulwark and Ocean carrying landing craft and troops are where its at. We will therefore only go into an Operational Theatre with other Nato Countries so we can utilise their aircraft capabilities. Unfortunately the Argies are at it again and there is a distinct possibility that we may well require our own. It would be aircraft that would be vital again should they Invade the Falklands. Remember that basically their entire Navy was taken care of with a lone submarine, and their Armed Forces have been subject to massive budget cuts too, and so much so that they are on the point of disbanding. Again though, their air force would be the only cause for concern. Without an carrier platform we have nothing to fight back with tbh. We could probably regain the Islands by landing troops, but we couldn't carry on defending it without air support.