50 Days To Go - HMS Queen Elizabeth
In 50 days time, on July 4, Her Majesty the Queen will formally name the U.K.’s newest aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth and of course, bless all those who sail in her.
There’s a great deal of quiet excitement at the Rosyth dockyard near Edinburgh.
In 50 days time, on July 4, Her Majesty the Queen will formally name the U.K.’s newest aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth and of course, bless all those who sail in her.
The activity is phrenetic, scaffolding currently covers many of the parts that give the 65,000 tonne ship its unique shape, with its distinctive two islands. As work continues on her haze grey paint job, inside, workers are getting on with the wiring and testing the many systems that will support its operation.
View from the Goliath Crane - All photos Tony Osborne (AW&ST)
I had been looking forward to a visit to the ship for some time, and regardless of where you view the ship from, whether it’s from the top of the tiny ski jump on the bow, from above on Rosyth’s vast Goliath crane, or perversely from underneath the stern, you really get a sense of the scale of the enterprise.
View from the top of the ski jump.
Large components for the Queen Elizabeth have been assembled at six sites around the country and then moved by barge to Rosyth, while the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, the consortium building the ship, say that companies in virtually every county of the U.K. have been involved in the supply of parts and equipment.
View from under the stern, showing one of two propeller shafts.
The paint job has to be completed by June 15, ready for engineers to be begin opening the sluices and put water into the dock on June 23. After the naming ceremony, some time later in July, the ship will move out of the dry dock and be berthed inside the yard for further fitting-out work. In September, the first major pieces of the second, sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, will arrive, and work will then begin on assembling that vessel. Indeed, some of the parts, including a significant part of the bow for the Prince of Wales, were already on site at Rosyth during Aviation Week’s visit.
Royal Navy personnel will begin training on the Queen Elizabeth in May 2016 with sea trials due to be undertaken in August that year. Acceptance should occur in May 2017, and the Navy hopes that the first F-35Bs Lightning IIs could be landing on the vast 4.5-acre flight deck somewhere off the east coast of the United States towards the end of 2018, with an interim operating capability expected in 2020 after training.
While the deadlines for having the ship ready are not tight, workers are reminded throughout the site that “Jets will fly from HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2018.”
Getting the jets onto the ships in 2018 and restoring the U.K.’s carrier strike capability is the top priority for Royal Navy commanders and the ship’s future capabilities, as a helicopter carrier will follow later.
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