Great summary, so let me try to nuance (these points are in no way meant as criticism):
Lord Jim wrote: after losing one of its squadrons
Since that transfer another Cdo has lost its heavy weapons, so I wonder if they, too, now have squadrons as opposed to companies?
Lord Jim wrote:also points to the idea that the Brigade as a whole will rarely if ever be deployed in its entirety
Can't be landed at once (shipping), but the LCG can be augmented by several company-sized groups, as you say (to facilitate entry by 'early entry').
Lord Jim wrote: seems that the majority of future operation will be in company sized units
Majority, as in frequency, but then there's also 'major' as in severity... which is actually easy to define: when follow-on forces will be required
Lord Jim wrote:locate a port that has very limited defence like in GW2
Into that same class falls a port that has been incapacitated (by OpFor) or has such limited capacity that it will need to be rapidly improved. The great piece by TD on this aspect was just days ago linked here, can't remember now by whom.
Lord Jim wrote:Currently we are having to plan on using one of our Carriers to provide the aviation assets due to the lack of such facilities on the Albions or Bays.
This is the negativity which for me is difficult to fully comprehend. Littoral Ops against any kind of serious or semi-serious opposition are feasible only with "a" carrier in presence. So it needs to be there, anyway, and the negativity is really about by how much can we allow the airwing to be reduced for the aux. amph. capacity? My view:
- not by more than having a Coy and some recce elements onboard
- the Chinooks, crews & maintainers needed to make the other amph. vessels effective will, as such, eat to "the" airwing and its manning, anyway. This is of course hidden by calling the totality a "flexible" airwing.
Lord Jim wrote: because of their integral Aviation and Medical facilities these vessels could also carry out the roles currently carried out by RFA Argus. It also shows that he RN does not need a third "Flat Top"
Exactly, and that is
the direction where we should be headed. The timing gaps, as noted many times on these pages, are the ones (together with stretched shipbuilding budgets) that make it a thorny issue.
Going back to that TD piece,
- for enhanced Repairing and Augmenting the Port -capability the relevant rgmnt (17?) with its core manning, sponsored reserves and heavy plant could all be packed into one Bay
- we "give" Penny M her first Hospital Ship by painting another Bay white ( a nice piccie of that one; was it on Save the Royal Navy site? Yes, it was:
https://www.savetheroyalnavy.org/the-pl ... l-support/)
- keep the third one for landing one company complete with its Vikings (the first mentioned of the three Bays can, of course, switch into this role if and when that takes the priority)
...
now we are in a position to start the build for Argus replacement as outlined by LJ above. A tad earlier
than the mid '30s
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)