Abandon ship

SIR – Phil Williams’s doom-mongering about the sale of HMS Ocean (Letters, February 20) lacks perspective.

HMS Ocean’s useful service life was scheduled to end in 2022; extending it further would have been prohibitively expensive. We are also getting a good price for its sale.

As new carriers become operational they will more than eclipse the airlift capacity of HMS Ocean. Selling it is a sensible decision that will support the Navy’s bold, carrier-led future. Robert Frazer

Salford