Overheard at the UK Ministry of Defence's announcement that Scruggs Aeroscrape has been selected as prime contractor to build two 60,000t aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy. "I've just seen BAE pull a 120,000t rabbit out of the hat!"
However, it is just as well. As Nephew Pete Soden points out, given that the US designation for an aircraft carrier is "CV", there had been a distinct danger that, should they have been French-built, the new RN carriers would surely have been "2CVs".
Source: Flight International