HMAS Adelaide

She is a sister ship to the Spanish air craft carrier JUAN CARLOS 1.Cheaper to keep it than redesign and can act as a wind/sea break but who knows .(it gives the crew something to do on Antarctic manoeuvres ,don't forget your skis)

Future proofing. She is already capable of embarking Harriers, F35s, and what may come in the future. A small price to pay for what may come in the near future.
A wise move. Wiser than the RN.

Wiser than the RN how? Surely the points above apply to the QE as well? Capable of embarking F35, probably Harriers too, had Labour not scrapped Sea Harrier and the the Tories the RAF Harriers.

Thanks All.
Anybody know what the 'patches'on the hull are for?
Would they be an easy means to remove/replace machinery, perhaps?

Wiser than the RN, because they didn’t have to sell, scrap or mothball most of their fleet for 2 massive carriers that have nothing to protect them.

Agreed. That wasn't in your original post hence the question.

VSTOL aircraft on ADELAIDE and CANBERRA possible but not likely unless significant changes externally and internally are made such as completely resurfacing the flight deck to cater for heat from the jets and storage inside for spares and jet fuel. All at a huge cost.
YM - if you have a closer look at the ships side, you will see they are not 'patches' but the downward 'cabling runs' makes it appear so.

Forget the Harrier guys, its 50+ years old now!

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/18/f35_uk_test_pilot_interview_sim_flight/

Thanks TJ about what looked like (to me anyway) 'patches' on the hull .

Having had a closer look at some of the high res photos I think that you are right about them being cables or whatever. I will post another more detailed pic shortly.

Pic now at:

http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/1165362/title/hmas-adelaide/cat/519

Either way, to me, as a totally uninformed landlubber, they look both untidy and vulnerable to damage but, no doubt, there are reasons.

Not that I know anything anyway.(Jester)(Hippy)