Shipbucket

Feck, just lost a big old post... Right, lets get the barebones of that back out.

Interesting thoughts on a Conveyor type ship. The ships carried and flew off 14 harriers and carried an additional 11 helicopters during the Falklands conflict. The SS Atlantic Causeway, her sister ship, was apparently fitted with a ski ramp and hanger facilities during the same war. She didn't operate harriers, but she seems to have been fitted for them.
So, a Conveyor type ship, built in 1970 or so, could seemignly be fitted out to operate (at a complete guess) 6 harriers off the fore deck in STOVL flights and two helicopters from the aft deck. Maybe only one helicopter, but I'm not sure as to the size of that pad.
A few of these, outfitted with various (defensive) armaments, some new topside equipment (need a radar set for flight ops at least) and so on should be a able to function as reasonably effective flagships for the fleet and for GTC wartime operations.

Obviously my thoughts on things are evolving relatively rapidly, but I'm starting to ponder a flagship timeline that looks something like this...

1930's-early 40's: Last of the 'big gun' flagships. Heavy cruisers which act as C&C platforms, convoy leaders (for the expensive ones) and operate alongside the RN at times.
1940's-50's: Carrier flags. Left over from wartime. Escort scale. Some modernisation done to them, such as an angled flight deck, possibly. Maybe, and only maybe, a replacement in the 1950's. However, that seems unlikely if there is any way of stretching them out to the late 60's. The company is cheap, after all.
1970's: The rise of the auxilliary flag. Semi-carriers, and fleet support ships become the C3 platform for GTC. Not just the container ships theorised on above, but probably OPV style vessels as well. The flagship fleet might expand considerably as a range of vessels are pulled into this category.
New Millenium: I'm not sure where to go from here. Keep replacing the above with new designs? Where does the fleet air arm go? Does it replace the harriers with manned aircraft or with drones? Do they maintain odd little micro carriers? Is a smaller OPV the way to go...

I will ponder on armed merchants soon...

I'm doing a lot of planning and not much drawing right now. I hope nobody minds, I'm trying to get a clear idea of where I want the GTC fleet to go in the post WW2 20th century. It's a complicated time for them, and I think I'm representing that okay. Much pondering to be done...