Archbishop Cranmer reviews the defence review and shows a very unecclesiastical interest in military things that go bang.
He also has his patriotic history somewhat awry:
Sir Walter Raleigh would never have put his Ark Royal to sea without the requisite ordnance on her gun decks. The Spanish Armada would hardly have been deterred if he had done so.
HMS Ark Royal was originally built for Raleigh but was bought by the Crown within a year in lieu of part of Raleigh’s debts. At the time of the Armada she was commanded by Lord Howard of Effingham. I can’t help wondering if His Grace is confusing Raleigh with Drake (a common schoolboy error) and is then falling into the trap of believing that Drake was in command in repelling the Armada.
But then, the Armada was 32 years after Cranmer’s death so perhaps he wasn’t really paying attention.
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