Posted on 01/17/2014 9:27:24 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Making waves: a CGI of how the 65,000-tonne HMS Queen Elizabeth will look.
They have been joining up the dots —almost literally — on HMS Queen Elizabeth, the new aircraft carrier, the largest warship built in Britain, which is now towering above the rooftops in Rosyth dockyard.
The five huge sections from different yards for the 65,000-tonne ship have been assembled. In the coming year it will be floated out of the dock, and named by the Queen — the first naval ship to bear her name.
Crew members are shortly to be given a special app for their mobile phones to help them navigate around the ship.
Walking through the ship recently on a clear winter’s day was like walking through the giant set of a sci-fi movie. Cables and wires of all kinds seem to stretch for miles. In all, 12,500 miles of fibre-optic cable will be installed and 18,750 miles of copper wiring. The flight deck space is more than three football pitches .
Captain Simon Petitt, 46, commands the Royal Navy crew of 111 now involved in the construction — almost 10 times as many civilian workers are employed. The captain keeps up a steady bombardment of statistics.
The ship is the Navy’s biggest ever. But it will take a crew of only 690 to drive it and man it — this goes up to 1,680 when the F35 attack jets are on board. Alternatively the ship can carry 920 Royal Marines.
“The Americans tell me that we are either heroic or stupid,” says Captain Petitt, “They want to know how we manage it with such small numbers.”
He adds: “We do it by maximum use of automation — particularly in handling ammunition and ordnance.”
The handling of bombs, bullets and missiles for the aircraft from the storage bays five decks below the hangars is all done by machinery.
Queen Elizabeth and her sister ship the Prince of Wales are currently budgeted at £6.2 billion to build.
The QE will be able to fly 36 F35 strike aircraft and house Apache attack helicopters.
However, the new design has put paid to one of the quainter traditions of British aircraft carriers, known as the “five-deck dash”.
“The idea is for a crewman to run naked all but an anti-flash mask on his head through five decks without being identified. You can’t do that with the complex layout here,” said one of the carrier’s crew. Some guarantee of British maritime security
The two aircraft carriers, Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales, will continue to be controversial as the Government looks at further defence cuts.
The Navy argues that they are of immense value to British foreign policy and security.
Currently costed at £6.2 billion, the whole programme is likely to cost three times that, once the 45 F35 Lightning II aircraft are purchased, and the mission systems to go with them.
They offer a wide range of choice — to do anything from flying aerial strike missions, to supporting troops on the ground, as a base for anti-pirate operations, and for disaster and humanitarian relief missions in devastated areas like the mission to help the hurricane-ravaged Philippines.
Some fear that spending on the Navy will mean cuts in the Army and particularly in recruiting and training.
But in the coming years Britain is going to depend increasingly on the sea, its resources and commerce.
A recent Nato conference in London was told that by the year 2050 more than half of Britain’s revenue will come from trade by sea — and by then half the world’s maritime commerce will be conducted across the Indian Ocean alone. The aircraft carriers offer some guarantee of British maritime security. Since fewer countries will welcome the basing of British forces and aircraft, they will be needed more than ever.
American Carriers have a Bridge for air ops, a Navigation Bridge, and IIRC a Flag Bridge since an Admiral is onboard, all on the same island but stacked. I’m just guessing but I’d bet there is a land transportation bridge or bridges clearence issue going into and out of port and that’s their workaround for it perhaps.
Is that anything like being inport & the Fire Pump Rover or AC&R Rover Watch Mooning The Chief Of The Watch in DC Central from the cameras in the Shaft Alleys? LOL
Nice to see England still has a deep water navy. I am waiting for Germany to Launch a carrier.
No, I read about it. They deliberately split the two, so the Air Boss and his guys wouldn’t be constantly tripping over the navigation bridge crew, and vice versa, in the ladderwells, and also because it’s a lot easier to oversee aircraft recovery operations from the new aft position, where before they had to struggle to see the wire-trap situation. The new more forward position of the navigation bridge also means a better field of view for those guys, who no longer have so much deck to look past to see where they’re going.
>>>Crew members are shortly to be given a special app for their mobile phones to help them navigate around the ship.
Walking through the ship recently on a clear winter’s day was like walking through the giant set of a sci-fi movie. Cables and wires of all kinds seem to stretch for miles. In all, 12,500 miles of fibre-optic cable will be installed and 18,750 miles of copper wiring. The flight deck space is more than three football pitches .<<<
LOL. I really hope it works better than Jag and Range electronics:)
Hehe, what a nightmare: a Carrier with electricals by Lucas.
Thanks for the info. We didn’t have an issue that much with ladder traffic on the island. I was a Snipe but I made lots of trips up to the Bridges and even the top of the Island to check on cooling issues. The Old Man and Flag didn’t have to worry about ladder traffic they shared an elevator and I’m serious on that one.
I believe you on the elevator. I wasn’t Navy (almost, though), but even in the Clancy novels, flag quarters were described as being lifted wholesale from some Arlington mansion, save only for the rat’s nest of haze-grey plumbing on the ceiling.
Yea automated or not I think that idea will come back to haunt them. You have to plan for mass causalities of both crew and equipment. 600 - 700 hundred IIRC was about the size of our Engineering Department.
My last year on the ship we were in a drydock overhaul. I got to go through all the spaces from walking underneath it to going through a Broiler and looking up from the base of the stack. I was in Fire Department for about six months and all spaces including the magazines at that time were all non secured spaces. The yards is the best place to learn about a ship and how things are laid out equipment wise. It saves a lot of guess work later at sea.
When I got to my ship in early January 1977 she was in the yards going through a three month repair period and I had a month or two to learn my way around even though I was assigned to Mess Cooking {KP} for the first three months. When I got out in October 1980 I left the old gal right where I found her LOL. Same pier in the yards.
From what I’ve read, the air-crew and support staff add another 1,000 to the size of the crew. My guess is that if the carrier took a hit and air operations were disabled, these people would probably be free to help with damage control etc.
Considering the crop of idiots we have spawn since the 1960s and the way the Liberal have changed the education system during that time frame... 
are we surprised when ever cashier we come up to has to look at the printout to know how much change to give you?
LOL!
5.56mm
Hahahahahaha!
Beware of greeks wearing sneakers! (greek sailors, that is)
That thing would show them coming up behind you!
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