When the UK’s new aircraft carrier sets sail on its first operational deployment this year, the Royal Air Force/Royal Navy aircraft on the flight deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth will sit alongside a squadron of US Marine Corps jets. An American destroyer USS The Sullivans will join the escort. So configured, this naval strike group offers a useful metaphor for the “special relationship”: Britain as both partner and willing prisoner.
当英国的新航空母舰在今年晚些时候启航投入首次作战部署时,伊丽莎白女王号航空母舰(HMS Queen Elizabeth)飞行甲板上除了皇家空军/皇家海军(Royal Air Force/Royal Navy)战机外,还将有美国海军陆战队(Marine Corps)的一个战斗机中队。美国海军苏利文兄弟号驱逐舰(USS The Sullivans)将参加护航。如此配置的这个航母战斗群为英美“特殊关系”提供了一个有用隐喻:英国既是合作伙伴,又是自愿囚徒。