HMS Queen Elizabeth to be structurally complete this year

Defence Management ^

[Smartisan]

The UK's new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth has come one step closer to completion after the aft island was lowered into place.

The 750-tonne section was the final section of the ship to arrive at Rosyth Dockyard and was moved into place last week.

Programme director Ian Booth said: "HMS Queen Elizabeth now has a completely unique and distinctive profile and, thanks to the dedication of thousands of workers, just a few sections remain to be assembled. She will be structurally complete by the end of this year."

Rear Admiral Steve Brunton added: "HMS Queen Elizabeth will be at the centre of the UK's defence capability for the 50 years she is expected to be in service.

"She will be absolutely unique and, combined with assets across the rest of the UK's armed forces, will provide this country with an unprecedented level of capability, protecting UK interests and providing humanitarian support across the globe."

[Smartisan]

I’ll get some pics up of the aft island being put in place as soon as possible. The darn thing is finally starting to look like a carrier!

Oh and a side note about the new Joint Rivet for the RAF, recently seen painted up in the US ahead of delivery in December this year. Again, pics en route.

[umgud]

THX, look forward to the pics.

[yarddog]

Is it going to be a large super carrier like ours or one of those small carriers with a ramp?

At the time of WWII the British came up with some better ideas such as the steel decks and the offset deck.

[ThunderSleeps]

A 750 ton lift!? That’s big! What does Newport News typically lift when assembling a carrier?

[ClearCase_guy]

China has a crane that lifts 20,000 tons. They are serious about building a navy. Unlike the US.

[tanknetter]

Is it going to be a large super carrier like ours or one of those small carriers with a ramp?

Roughly the same dimensions of the old USS Midway, although slightly less displacement (65,000 tons). She'll be finished with the ski-jump, but the design is deliberately engineered for retrofitting of catapults and angled-deck arrestor gear. But that's highly unlikely to happen since the Brits are so heavily investing in the F-35B for her and her sister (Prince of Wales)

[Smartisan]

For the time being until I get the pics up, this is a good link for images of carrier progress.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/qeclasscarriers/with/9157150089/

[ClearCase_guy]

Sweet!

[tanknetter]

To add, here's a pic (artist's conception) showing the size difference between the Prince of Wales and HMS Illustrious (the last of the three Invincibles left):

[Al B.]

The overhead gantry crane at Newport News, largest in North America, has a 900-ton capacity. Carriers are constructed as modules weighing less than that and lifted into place in the building dock.

Here's the video of the island lift for CVN-78, Gerald Ford, earlier this year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yo9bEKxKsk

As you may notice, the island is a completely new design from the Nimitz-class ships and sits farther aft.

[ThunderSleeps]

Thanks for the link. Very cool.

[wastedyears]

Didn’t WWII carriers have decks that curved upwards?

[Chode]

why??? they prolly won't have any planes to put on it by time it's commissioned...

[DUMBGRUNT]

http://gcaptain.com/building-the-worlds-largest-crane/

Largest Crane In The World [IMAGES]

[Kip Russell]

Until this carrier becomes operational in 2020 (assuming all goes well), the Royal Navy won’t have an operational aircraft carrier (helicopter carriers don’t count). The RN is only a shadow of its former self.

[Kip Russell]

why??? they prolly won't have any planes to put on it by time it's commissioned...

They should be flying the F-35B Lightning II by then. The aircraft are expected to begin trials flying from the Queen Elizabeth in 2018 with a carrier air wing fully operational by 2020.

[Charles Martel]

Didn’t WWII carriers have decks that curved upwards?

No, just a flat deck set parallel with the keel. Angled flight decks, ski-jumps and steam catapults are all post-war developments.

[tanknetter]

Didn’t WWII carriers have decks that curved upwards?

Some did, to assist landing aircraft with slowing down. HMS Furious and Hermes did, as well as the Japanese Akagi and Kaga did. Maybe some others (like Hosho). Also, HMS Ark Royal had a large stern flight deck extension that angled downwards.

Here's the sloped deck on Hermes:



I think Akagi and Kaga, (and a few others), had the forward end of the flight deck slope downwards too. Meaning that their flightdecks actually had a very shallow "V" (or chevron) shape to them.

But those were holdovers from an earlier era when countries were still trying to figure carriers out. Furious was also built with a secondary flight deck that allowed aircraft to be flown directly off from the hangar. Akagi and Kaga were built with a TWO secondary flight decks (since they had two stacked hangars).

The USN had true flat decks from the start. However, for several of its carriers (Yorktown class, the one-off USS Wasp CV-7, and a few of the initial Essex class ships) the USN had hangar deck catapults:

[tanknetter]

Here's a picture of a model of Akagi showing her sloped flight deck pretty well. Good, decent-res pics of the Japanese carriers are pretty hard to come by.