NAVY NEWS, MAY 2010

Prow day for Devon shipyard

NO, that’s not a submarine, it’s an aircraft carrier – an

easy mistake to make.

And no, we haven’t had a sudden attack of the Mr Magoos

here at Navy News.

As you can see from the picture, one section of the new aircraft carrier which emerged from the gloom of the Main Building Hall at Appledore does bear a remarkable resemblance to the business end of a submarine.

But it is officially the bulbous

bow section of the future HMS Queen Elizabeth, lovingly crafted from steel plates to allow the 65,000-tonne ship to slip through the water as efficiently and quietly as possible.

And those who crafted it at Babcock’s North Devon shipyard, just along the River Torridge from Bideford, were invited to a special ceremony to send the bulbous bow (sub block VB001) on its way north.

Along with the next section

up – at 112 tonnes, VB002 is a more traditional bow-shape, for the purists among our readers – the 293-tonne block had been mounted on a barge, the Osprey Carrier, ready to ship to Rosyth. But with a capricious wind gusting around the shed, it was decided to complete the ceremony but delay the departure until calm prevailed. That gave VIP guests the chance to thank the workers at the Appledore yard, many of whom had gathered in the building, for their efforts.

Among the guests was Vice Admiral Andrew Mathews, Chief of Material Fleet, who gave some indications as to why the Navy needed the new carriers. The Admiral observed that 90 per cent of the world’s population is close to a coastline, and while

“prevention is better than cure” there are some occasions when the “gentle reminder” of a carrier task group proves that you mean what you say. Vice Admiral Mathews also pointed out that over half of American combat missions over land-locked Afghanistan are flown from aircraft carriers,

which

are secure and relatively easy to resupply at sea.

He also said that work had

begun at five shipyards around the UK, with Cammell Laird coming on stream later this year, and that much of the equipment for HMS Queen Elizabeth – a defence asset, not a Royal Navy asset – was already in existence; the engines were being built and tested, the propellers were cast and work was nearing completion on the dock in Rosyth in which she will be assembled. Archie Bethel, Chief Executive of Babcock’s Marine Division, said the event was just as much about “celebrating the success of the Appledore workforce”. He said that the curvature of

the bulbous bow section, built of high-tensile steel, made it one of the most complex sections of the hull, but it left Appledore “in budget, on schedule, with zero defects and within tolerance.” On completion of the speeches there was a ripple of fireworks along the dock and outside the massive door, which echoed round the shed as the Appledore Silver Band provided a rousing nautical soundtrack to the ceremony. Around a dozen Sea Cadets and staff from the Barnstaple unit TS Valiant were on hand to witness events, as was a member of staff of the local Bideford unit TS Revenge.

But as proceedings came to

a close, with the evening sun slanting through the doors and

l The bulbous bow of HMS Queen Elizabeth in the Main Building Hall at Babcock’s Appledore shipyard

windows, the tug experts deemed conditions still fell outside their safety envelope, so the barge remained in dock, allowing guests to take a closer look at the blocks before heading home. The actual departure happened early the following day, which dawned cold and calm. The 300-ton Dutch

tug

Vigilant, aided by Southampton tug Willpower, Babcock shipyard workboat Lundy Puffin and Bideford workboat Datchet, coaxed the 76-metre long barge out of the shed and a short distance downstream to New Quay, where they waited for sufficient depth of water to cross the sandbanks. And having headed north out of the river, they then turned west and south, making the long journey to the Forth via the South and East coasts, thereby avoiding the inhospitable seas to the north of Scotland. They arrived at Rosyth within

a week, joining a sponson which had already been delivered from the Devon yard.

Major hull blocks from

shipyards around the country will converge on Rosyth, with whole- ship assemble scheduled to begin at the newly-prepared No 1 Dock in late 2012.

Shape of things to come

WHAT comes after 22 and 23? Why 26, obviously. This is an early glimpse of

the Type 26 frigate, the future backbone of the Fleet. Whitehall has signed a £127m deal with BAE Systems to design the replacement for the existing frigates which will begin leaving service at the end of the decade. The four-year contract with BAE to design the future frigates is one of a number of contracts signed by the MOD in the past few weeks to help shape the RN for the next three decades. It has committed to boats five and six of the Astute submarine project,

initial construction of the as-yet- unnamed fifth boat and procuring key items for boat number six. And a 15-year deal has been signed with Babcock Marine for surface ship and submarine support and maintenance. The Navy reckons the long-

pressing ahead with

l Sea Cadets from Barnstaple unit TS Valiant at the ceremony in Appledore

Picture: Babcock

possess the bespoke equipment on the T26s. The third batch will serve as

term contract should save the taxpayer more than £1bn by the time it ends in 2025. As for Type 26, a team of 80 RN/ MOD/BAE personnel is already working on plans in Bristol. Over the next four years, as the design for the frigate is honed, the staff working on the project will swell to around 300. The Type 26 is the first of three

hydrographic/survey ships in place of the Echo class/HMS Roebuck, patrol ships in place of the River class and mine warfare vessels in place of the Sandowns and Hunts. The basic design will be identical, with equipment tailored to meet the demands of the specific task. “You simply cannot have an

effective Navy without capable frigates,” said First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope. “The Type 26 combat ship will form the future backbone of the Royal Navy’s surface force, alongside the new Type 45 destroyers.

“These ships will be highly

potential classes to arise from the Future Surface Combatant programme which has been looking into the needs of the 21st century Fleet for a decade or so. The second class will be general- purpose warships which don’t

versatile, able to operate across the full spectrum of operations.” The key role of the T26, like its predecessors, will be anti- submarine warfare, but the RN also wants to be far more flexible than existing classes of ships at dealing with a range of threats or situations, such as disaster relief.

The criteria laid down for the class include defending task groups and the strategic deterrent from submarines and other threats; putting troops ashore by boat or helicopter;

intelligence gathering;

surveillance and counter-

terrorism/counter-piracy work; and disaster relief/humanitarian aid. The first T26s are due to enter

service at the beginning of the next decade, around the same time as the first Batch 3 Type 22 – HMS Cornwall – pays off. The Type 23s are due to begin decommissioning from 2023. Come the 2030s, half the Fleet is expected to consist of the T26 and its successor. And if you were wondering

about Type 24s and 25s… The former was a general-purpose frigate, rather like the Leanders, aimed largely at the export market, while the Type 25 was a ‘mini Type 22’ intended to pack the same punch as the Broadswords, but at two-thirds of the cost. Neither ever got off the drawing board.

Picture: PO(Phot) Nicola Harper

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