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Feature 5 | AIRCRAFT CARRIERS


Key milestones achieved in UK carrier programme


In recent months a number of important events have taken place in the construction of the UK Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth (QE) class aircraſt carriers.


A number of important milestones have been reached recently in the construction of the QE class aircraft carriers.


A


t the end of July, workers at BAE Systems moved the huge mid-section of HMS Queen


Elizabeth, the first of the new aircraft carriers, out the company’s shipbuilding hall at Govan in preparation for its being transported to Rosyth, where the carriers is being assembled. The 8000tonne mid-section, known as Lower Block 03, was moved 200m across the specially reinforced tarmac at the yard. Steven Carroll, Queen Elizabeth class


project director at BAE Systems, said: “I’m extremely proud of the team’s huge achievement today, being on track to successfully load the mid-section of the hull out of our hall on time and built to an exceptional standard. “Tis is the culmination of months of


preparation and is only possible because of the strong partnership with our Carrier Alliance partners, the skills of our workforce here on the Clyde and of the thousands of people working on the programme across


Warship Technology October 2011


every region of the UK. It is a fantastic showcase for British engineering.” Having been taken out of the shipbuilding


hall, the block was loaded onto one of the two largest sea-going barges in the world in preparation for a 600mile journey, starting on 16 August, taking her round the north coast of Scotland to Rosyth.


Working in partnership As a member of the Aircraſt Carrier Alliance, BAE Systems is working in partnership with Babcock, Tales and the Ministry of Defence to deliver the carriers. With construction underway at six shipyards across the UK, the QE class aircraft carrier programme is sustaining thousands of skilled jobs throughout the country. Te load out of Lower Block 03 came two


years aſter first steel was cut in July 2009. Since then, employees at the company’s Govan yard have worked steadily to construct the block which stands at more than 20m high, 60m long and 40m


wide. Approximately 350 Govan-based employees will follow the block to Rosyth where they will work in partnership with employees at Babcock to complete the assembly phase of this section of the ship. Meanwhile, at Govan, construction of Lower Block 04, the largest and most complex section of hull, is progressing and production on the second aircraſt carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, started in May. BAE Systems is also manufacturing


the forward and lower stern sections of the hull at its Portsmouth facility, along with the ship’s forward island structure. The company is also responsible for the


integration and testing of the


ships’ complex mission and advanced communications systems. Construction of


the first QE class


aircraft carrier took another significant step forward in June when the final rings of the forward hull section came together for the first time at BAE Systems’ facility at Portsmouth Naval Base.


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