Should the royal navy have a real hospital ship?

[shark bait]

dedicated hospital ships. I wonder if this becoming reality might be more likely now that she's Defence Secretary.

No more likely, she is not in charge of that money any more, plus is was probably only a political stunt to line her up for this job any way. Hospital ships are dumb anyway.

[ArmChairCivvy]

Hospital ships are dumb anyway.

Dedicated ones, yes, as they need to be huge for the stability required
- for up and coming powers they can be a useful instrument in buying 'influence'

[Tempest414]

Hopefully the one thing that doesn't change is the willingness to go head to head with the treasury to ensure the funding levels remain high enough to prevent further non strategic cuts.

I think this is one reason Williamson has been push out and I feel any hope of a hard line is now gone I don't see her pushing that hard. I see the LPD's being put back on the block to make room for halfassed FLSS

[abc123]

IMHO, if we were living in a ideal world where RN has enough money for all it's basic needs ( including manning ), then I would say that having one or even two dedicated hospital ships wouldn't be a bad thing at all.

But, considering that funding ( and manning ) is so scarce that the RN is forced to do constand juggling with money and personell to cover even the most basic tasks ( carriers, escorts, amphibious ships etc. ), to spend these scarce resources on dedicated hospital ship is nonsense. The only way I could support it if these ships would be: a) multifunctional ( like say RFA Argus, for training of helicopter crews ) and b) at least 50% funded ( in buying and operational costs ) by other departments ( like Department for International Aid and Development ).

So, IMHO way better option would be the spread of medical facilities over various RN/RFA ships ( like carriers, LPHs, LPDs, LSDd, fleet tankers, FSSS ships etc. ).

[ArmChairCivvy]

make room for halfassed FLSS

and the same number, of the same hulls, painted white?

[seaspear]

Coming back to the question of should the Royal Navy have the ship ,I would say no because it would come out of the R.N budget .
If the hospital ships were owned or leased by the government with the understanding that it could be used for miltary actions in emergencies it could perform those aid roles that have been discussed ,the ship could be designed to be outfitted for R.N use when required ,