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.
Hahahahahahahahahaha!
As a former MG owner, I CONCUR!
Sigh. There is something so completely wrong with that concept.
I am sure it just me being old and crotchety.
Of course, that would prevent any of their sailors walking down into the brig unintentionally while exploring as I did...
if they can't figure out painted deck and frame numbers, will they walk right off the ship if their app tells them to "turn right here" ???
Yep, like when somebody loads some malware.
5.56mm
Well said, my friend..I was shocked when I read the expected crew size. MY first thought was damage control..who’s gonna do it..also..the CVs of WW II did not face the ship-killing missiles of today..
I can see it now...they call General Quarters, and out come the iPhones...
LOLOLOL!!!!! sh!t, glad i wasn't drinking my coffee when i read that one...
Part of the idea is not to get hit - that in most of the situations in which these carriers are likely to be used, that they are unlikely to be attacked by a force that can damage them.
But, yes, if they are hit, damage control is an issue because of the crew numbers - the carriers will not be as likely to survive in such a situation as US carriers would be.
But what people have to remember, is that if the RN insisted on crew levels like those of the USN, the British Government would not have funded the carriers. It’s a political reality. The bottom line is the Royal Navy is more powerful with these carriers than without them - and to get them they had to be willing to come up with a way to have them with less people.
It’s better to have some capability in reality than to hold out for a theoretically better solution you’ll never get.
These Carriers don’t match US standards - but they are at least in the same ballpark again, for the first time in decades and should match anybody else in the world. As the UK is unlikely to find itself at war with the US, that’s not bad.
Nice to see Australia getting back on such a list.
Another factor is ships company is always better trained at DC because they live there even in port back in CONUS. Getting DC quals done properly takes some time. Carriers are highly Air Conditioning dependent. On a carrier the AC&R shop alone would need 12 minimal to function. Without it you might as well not get underway because the electronics are going to go down. Nothing beats a well trained Roving watch to keep things going smooth. Rover has senses cameras do not.
The UK right now will be the U.S. condition in a couple more decades staying on the current political and military policy course.
Maybe they never go in three-quarters of it.
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