According to a Royal Navy spokesperson, the Royal Navy's latest vessel - HMS Ridiculous - is not in fact an aircraft carrier but a new class of ship named the aircraft hulk.

For those of you not familiar with the Dickensian term Hulk (cf. Great Expectations), it does not refer to a green man with bulging muscles but to the prison ships that used to be anchored off the English coast in Victorian times. 

Now the Royal Navy has decided not to commission aircraft carriers that can sail the seven seas but instead to build aircraft hulks - that is ships that can be stuffed with aircraft and then towed into position and left at anchor.

An MOD spokesperson explained:

To counter the increasing threat from the Russian and Chinese seaborne navies, we are accelerating our aircraft hulk building program which will save the taxpayer a ton of money. This new class of ship does not need an engine and instead just needs a few tugs to drag it to the Black Sea or Hong Kong or wherever in order to park it to protect our maritime interests and slowly rust.

FNN says: Rule Brittania!