page_title: CVA-01
section_title: Subsequent Royal Navy carriers
hierarchical_section_title: CVA-01 / Subsequent Royal Navy carriers
caption_attribution_description: English: The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) (left), steams alongside the (smaller) British Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious (R 06) in the Persian Gulf on April 9, 1998. The two ships are operating in the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Southern Watch, which is the U.S. and coalition enforcement of the no-fly-zone over Southern Iraq.
context_page_description: CVA-01 was a proposed United Kingdom aircraft carrier, designed during the 1960s. The ship was intended to be the first of a class that would replace all then-existing Royal Navy carriers, most of which had been designed before or during the Second World War. CVA-01 was intended to replace HMS Victorious and HMS Ark Royal, while CVA-02 and CVA-03 would have replaced HMS Hermes and HMS Eagle respectively.
  Following a government review, in the form of the 1966 Defence White Paper, the project was cancelled, along with the proposed Type 82 destroyer class, which were intended primarily as escorts for carrier groups. Factors contributing to the cancellation of CVA-01 included inter-service rivalries, the huge costs of the proposed carrier, and the technical complexity and difficulties it would have presented in construction, operation, and maintenance.
  Had CVA-01 and CVA-02 been built, it is likely they would have been named HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Duke of Edinburgh.
caption: The Invincible-class carrier Illustrious operating alongside USS John C. Stennis in 1998
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