News
Aircraft Carriers Sean Donaldson, Babcock project director, said:
First carrier units
“The first transportation between the Babcock facili-
ties in support of the QE class project marks a key
arrive in Rosyth
milestone for the project. Many people have been
involved both in preparing the ship components for
The first shipment of component units for the new transportation and the co-ordination of the logistics
aircraft carriers for the UK Royal Navy arrived in to ship the components. This joint working between
Rosyth at Babcock in late August, marking the start Babcock/BVT and the MoD shipping experts has
of the first stages in the assembly process for the clearly demonstrated the benefits of the Alliance
massive 65,000tonne CVF vessels, being undertaken approach being adopted by the project.”
by Babcock. The assembly and integration stage will involve the
This first transportation, from Babcock’s site at use of heavy lifting, alignment and fabrication skills
Appledore, Devon, consisted of 11 fabricated units by Babcock. As block build progresses two 500tonne
and two flat-pack units for the first of the two Queen transporters (delivered to Rosyth this month) and
Elizabeth (QE) class aircraft carriers’ sponson blocks. the Goliath crane (scheduled to arrive at Rosyth in
The units vary slightly in size, but each measures in August 2010) will all play a major part.
the region of 10m long by 7.5m wide and 3m high, and A member of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA),
weighs 20-36tonnes. Each carrier will have 12 differ- Babcock’s role includes a significant proportion
ent sponsons which form part of the ship structure to (nearly 50%) of the Foran/Tribon-based modelling
provide a wider flight deck. design and development work, and manufacture of
This is the first of some 20 shipments from the bow section and a number of upper blocks, as
Appledore to Rosyth for each of the two vessels, well as final ship assembly at Rosyth, drawing on
including two shipments for the LB01 sub blocks, its extensive skills in ship design, modern modular
12 shipments for sponson units, and four shipments construction techniques and through-life support.
for centre block units. For the first carrier these As the first sections of the QE aircraft carriers arrive
shipments will take place at various intervals between at Rosyth dockyard where they will be assembled,
August 2009 and January 2012. work is continuing apace to deliver the machinery,
Each of these shipments received will allow work fixtures and fittings that will equip the ships, and
to start on combining the 20-40tonne individual the MoD has recently announced that sub-contracts
units into 300tonne blocks. Major outfit can then worth over £52 million (US$85.9 million) for a wide
commence on electrical cabling and equipments, range of equipment have been placed, in addition to
The first units for the
mechanical pipe systems and equipments, ventila- those already placed.
UK Royal Navy’s
tion ducts and equipments, furniture and propulsion, The sub-contracts include: £16 million for 12,000
new QE class
weapon or aviation systems. This will lead to comple- valves by Score Marine Ltd, based in Peterhead; £15
carriers arrived at
tion of the approximately 1500 different compart- million for an integrated waste management system
Babcock in Rosyth
ments and numerous systems, prior to whole ship managed by Babcock Strachan & Henshaw in Bristol;
in August.
assembly in No 1 Dock at Rosyth. £14 million for watertight fire doors by Marine
Systems Technology in Cheshire; £3 million for ship
lighting and lighting distribution panels by McGeoch
Technology Ltd, based in Birmingham; £2 million for
the supply of glass-reinforced epoxy pipes and fittings
by Pipex Ltd in Plymouth; £790,000 for laundry
equipment by Kempsafe Ltd, based in Southampton;
£500,000 for galley furniture by CED Fabrications Ltd
in East Lancashire; £484,000 for integrated Internet
Protocol TV by Telindus Ltd in Hampshire; £343,000
for the design phase of the wireless communication
system by Selex Communications in Basildon; and
£280,000 for cable transit frames by MCT Brattberg
Ltd, based in Haslingden, Lancashire.
More than £700 million worth of equipment and
materials are already on contract for the two ships
and construction work is underway in Glasgow,
Rosyth and Appledore (Devon). This will expand
further in the coming months as involvement grows
across the UK.
6 Warship Technology October 2009
p6-12_WT NEWS OCT09.indd 6 17/09/2009 16:52:23
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