Well that's a bummer. The UK sank $10 billion into two ships which by the time they enter service will be defenseless against Russia's new hypersonic missiles.

The utility of carriers in a war against a serious power is already under question as is. This is because the range of modern anti-ship missiles now exceeds the combat range of carrier-operated aircraft.

However, with the current generation of anti-ship missiles navies have at least been able to tell themselves they would have a chance of shooting them down before impact.

Not so with Russia's latest hyper-sonic missiles. Brits at least are saying they have nothing that could even theoretically stop such a missile yet the Russians are now within just a few years of fielding them.