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  • On Remembrance Sunday, 2012, just before 11am, the final hull section of HMS Queen Elizabeth made its way under the forth bridges after a 1,200 mile journey from Govan around the south coast.

    LB02 weighs more than 11,000t and is the largest section of hull. It was constructed at BAE System's yard in Govan.

    Poor weather meant the block took the longer route, but it arrived on time and in style.


    Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

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    • Future carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth makes massive impression on Westminster
      8 January 2013



      The team behind the Navy’s future flagships have produced a series of stunning posters to demonstrate the sheer scale of the carriers – including parking one on the Thames outside Parliament.

      To give the public an idea of the sense of scale of HMS Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales, they put one on the Thames next to the Palace of Westminster and another at Victory Jetty in Portsmouth.




      Images: Aircraft Carrier Alliance

      DINKY? Now who’s dinky?

      Some recent newspaper articles have branded Britain's next-generation carriers ‘dinky’ (after a toy manufacturer popular up to the 1970s).

      But thanks to the team behind the 65,000-tonne leviathan, we can now show you how the future flagship might look – and dwarf the Palace of Westminster, among other locations – courtesy of several artist’s impressions and graphics.

      At 280 metres (918ft) long the carrier, which will enter service later this decade, is 15 metres longer than the Palace of Westminster (which runs along the Thames for 265m or 870ft).

      Her masthead would rise 58m (190ft) above the river – not as high as Big Ben (96m or 315ft), but six metres (20ft) taller than Nelson’s Column.

      As for the width, well with a flight deck beam of 70m (229ft), she’d stretch nearly one third of the way across the Thames.

      With the first of the two super-carriers nearing outward completion at Rosyth on the Forth, the Aircraft Carrier Alliance wanted to demonstrate the sheer size of Her Majesty’s Ships Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales, using graphics of the ships alongside at Westminster and in their home base of Portsmouth.

      “They’re stunning images and show that the UK can expect two really spectacular ships once construction is complete,” said Ian Booth, programme director of the Alliance.



      HMS Queen Elizabeth dwarfs Victory and Middle Slip Jetties, plus No.1 Basin, in Portsmouth

      As well as being longer than the iconic Victorian parliament building, each ship is three times longer than Buckingham Palace, five times the length of the Angel of the North, equivalent to 28 of London’s world-famous red buses parked end-to-end and 66m (216ft) longer than Brunel’s magnificent Clifton suspension bridge.

      Obviously, only computer graphics can ‘park’ the carriers on the Thames at Westminster – but how far up London’s great artery could they sail?

      Type 23 frigates are regular visitors to the Pool of London, passing through Tower Bridge before berthing next to HMS Belfast. Carriers such as HMS Illustrious or Ocean, which spent much of last summer on the Thames safeguarding Olympic events in the capital, go no further than the loop in the Thames at Greenwich.

      According to the experts at the UK Hydrographic Office in Taunton it’s not Queen Elizabeth’s draught – the depth of the ship below the waterline – of 9.9m (32½ft), which is only a couple of metres more than Illustrious, which poses a problem but her width.

      With a beam of 39m (128m), widening to 70m at the flight deck level, unlike her predecessors she’ll be too big to fit through the Thames Barrier.

      So this is the only time you’ll ever see her in the capital…



      A graphic compares the future carriers with other British icons including Stonehenge, the Clifton suspension bridge and Buckingham Palace

      As for the real thing, well outwardly Queen Elizabeth is now almost complete.

      The largest section of the hull, an 11,300-tonne segment which was delivered to the assembly yard in Rosyth late last year, is being joined to the ship as we speak.

      The forward island (uniquely, the ships will have two towering above the flight deck) is due to be shipped from Portsmouth to the Forth next month and installed the following month.

      Also arriving in Rosyth next month will be the final two sections of the flight deck, followed by the aft island which a barge will ship from Scotstoun on the Clyde around to the Forth during the summer.

      The last external piece of the gigantic jigsaw, the ski ramp which will help propel the F35 Joint Strike Fighters into the air – similar to the ramps which did the same for Harriers on the Invincible-class carriers – is due to arrive in the winter.

      Queen Elizabeth is due to be ‘launched’ – more accurately ‘floated out’ of a specially-extended dry dock – in 2014 and will begin sea trials in 2017, with the next-generation jump jets joining her the following year for extensive trials



      Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

      Comment


      • It gives the impression that one could be unsure which is the sharp end and which is the back end!
        Covid 19 is not over ....it's still very real..Hand Hygiene, Social Distancing and Masks.. keep safe

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        • On November 16 and 17 teams fromthe Aircraft Carrier Alliance manoeuvred the massive hull section LB04 into the dock at Rosyth where HMS Queen Elizabeth is being assembled.


          On December 28, 2012, teams from the Aircraft Carrier Alliance skidded more than 30,000 tonnes of HMS Queen Elizabeth 17 metres along the dock floor to join up with the massive stern.


          Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

          Comment


          • So as a recap, for my own information:

            - Are both carriers gonna be going into RN service ?

            - Are they going to be flying the F-35 ?
            "On the plains of hesitation, bleach the bones of countless millions, who on the very dawn of victory, laid down to rest, and in resting died.

            Never give up!!"

            Comment


            • As of the current UK government today, yet to both.


              This may change later this evening, tomorrow, next week, next month, or next time the weather changes.


              Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

              Comment


              • Dave B appears to be in very, very deep poo.

                there now appear to be stress fracture problems around the Tailplanes, oh, and the 'fix' for Dave C's tailhook problem works - 5 times out of 8, which i'm sure isn't a problem at all...

                are we still running a book on Dave B getting canned, and the odds on HMG refitting the carriers with C&T and buy F/A-18E/F/G?

                oh, and Kunduz is cold, coldy coldy cold - my boots are green, because i'm wearing a pair of Berghaus Yeti Gaiters over them. have i mentioned that Kunduz is COLD?

                Comment


                • Keep the head down Ropebag...and the feet warm
                  'History is a vast early warning system'. Norman Cousins

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                  • Published on Jan 24, 2013


                    Teams at BAE Systems, Govan, moving a huge 'ring' of aircraft carrier hull into place.

                    HMS Prince of Wales is the second of two aircraft carriers under construction by the Aircraft Carrier Allaince - BAE Systems, Babcock, Thales and MOD.

                    Middle huill section - LB03 - is under construction at Govan. In this operation one section of LB03 is moved to a different part of the yard to continue construction.


                    Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

                    Comment


                    • I read an interesting spin being put on the F35B in AFM last month. They wrote that because the B variant operated closer to shore, its loss of range in comparison to the C model was not that bad because by being closer to shore alternates it needed less reserves than the C variant that operates further out.

                      How you can argue that the necessity of placing a carrier group closer to shore due to a short legged aircraft is a good thing is beyond comprehension. In any case a conventional carrier operating a greater standoff range may well be as close to a friendly shore alternate anyway.

                      The B model is not designed for maximum force projection. It is designed to support USMC amphibious ops, with the USN providing wider area protection. This persistence with the B model is baffling and must be influenced by one or two nostalgic FAA ex Harrier jocks.

                      Comment


                      • This persistence with the B model is baffling and must be influenced by one or two nostalgic FAA ex Harrier jocks.
                        Agreed. It's almost as if they want to be a second tier force.

                        As it stands now they'd better hope that the French do actually build a second carrier, because the RN will need all the help it can get if it's ever going to conduct offensive air operations without the US present.

                        Comment


                        • The thing is though that that these two conventional carriers are not replacing conventional carriers, but two anti-submarine carriers, which made sense during rthe cold war, the RN having got out of conventional carrier operations in the 1970's, as they moved east of suez.

                          its easy to talk about buying F-18 without forgetting that there is no institutional knowledge around operating fixed wing aircraft from carriers, just vstol and helicopters, and no amount of cross trainng with france or the US will develop rthat capability quickly

                          It all dates back to 1998 when the world was very different, and the british navy got its dream, and it suited the politicans to build carriers as it was like nuclear weapons bound up in retaining influence 9 we can leave the Eu if we want), and created jobs in cyclops' back yard.

                          Fast forward to 2013, and perhaps perhaps two ships rather like USS america (LHA-6) would be far more useful. Thats what all the other european nations who operated small ASW carriers during the cold war opted for

                          Comment


                          • Fast forward to 2013, and perhaps perhaps two ships rather like USS america (LHA-6) would be far more useful
                            That's looks to be the way it's going alright. The UK are going to all of the expense and trouble of building carriers plenty big enough to operate as conventional CATOBAR carriers, and then basing relatively short range (relative being the key term) STOVL fighters on them, and thus removing the ability for fixed wing AWACs. A this stage, they would have very nearly have been better off with a pair of 45,000 LHAs. For the price, they could easily afford 3 of them (the America is being built on a fixed price contract for $2.4bn, the two UK carriers are expected to come in at £7bn, or $11bn). Put a well deck on them and they'd have very useful Amphibs.

                            The RN have had a number of pilots train in fixed wing carrier ops with the USN over the last few years. I'm not saying it would be easy to go back to running conventional carrier operations, but it would be far from impossible - be that with F/A-18s, Rafales or 35Cs.

                            Comment


                            • trainng the pilots is the easy bit, its the deck crew that caused problems. More important, the RAF will have a turf war with the navy over who should operate the fixed wing aircraft off the carriers.


                              The decision to build carriers in 1998 had no real military purpose, it was all about politics, "if the french have them so must we to retain the seat on the un security council".

                              At best they'll be expensive and about as useful as a battleship at Midway, at worst a massive white elephant.

                              Comment


                              • The first of the world's most powerful marine gas turbines has been installed in the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth at Babcock's Rosyth shipyard in Scotland.

                                The Rolls-Royce MT30, at 36 megawatts (around 50,000 horsepower), is the world’s most powerful marine gas turbine engine. Two MT30s will be installed in each of the 2 new Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers and will provide two-thirds of the 109 megawatts needed to power the 65,000-tonne ships - enough electricity to power a town the size of Swindon.

                                The power generated will meet the carriers’ demand for energy, which includes the propulsion motors, weapons and navigation systems as well as the entire low-voltage requirements for lighting and power sockets.

                                The MT30s are being installed as part of a gas turbine alternator which also includes an alternator and gas turbine enclosure, weighing a total of 120 tonnes.

                                read more: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/n...ve-gas-turbine
                                RGJ

                                ...Once a Rifleman - Always a Rifleman... Celer et Audax

                                The Rifles

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