[arethuza]

Just looked at the Wikipedia page for the new carriers, it seems we are going to operate one and keep the other in "extended readiness":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_class_aircraft_...

I presume "extended readiness" is civil service jargon for "scrapped as soon as it is built".

[46Bit]

More or less, yes. The thing is only being built because Labour managed to make it barely any cheaper to cancel the contracts than to actually build a second, unused & unusable one.