provided there's still money in the budget for them by then... i hope there is
Posted on 07/04/2013 6:31:35 PM PDT by Smartisan
The UK's new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth has come one step closer to completion after the aft island was lowered into place.
The 750-tonne section was the final section of the ship to arrive at Rosyth Dockyard and was moved into place last week.
Programme director Ian Booth said: "HMS Queen Elizabeth now has a completely unique and distinctive profile and, thanks to the dedication of thousands of workers, just a few sections remain to be assembled. She will be structurally complete by the end of this year."
Rear Admiral Steve Brunton added: "HMS Queen Elizabeth will be at the centre of the UK's defence capability for the 50 years she is expected to be in service.
"She will be absolutely unique and, combined with assets across the rest of the UK's armed forces, will provide this country with an unprecedented level of capability, protecting UK interests and providing humanitarian support across the globe."
Actually the lifter we’re using for the QE build has been sourced from China. Not sure what the max weight lift is, but its several thousand tons at least.
Hope we scanned the thing top to bottom before starting work to make sure nothing was lurking inside ;)
Ha, I know where you’re coming from, but to be fair the delay from the F35 is on your side of the pond ;)
As far as I can see, the QE will be commissioned around 2016, with the F35’s arriving probably in 2018 or so. So I guess for the intervening 2 and a bit years we will run it with Merlins, Wildcat’s, Chinook’s and Apache.
Although if the USMC wants to roll into a proper sized carrier for once, they’re more than welcome ;)
provided there's still money in the budget for them by then... i hope there is
Already been there, done that nearly four decades ago.
Huh, 45,000 tonnes. Not bad, size of the CdG. The QE’s are the next step along, revised weight topping 70,000 tonnes.
So my well intended comment still applies.
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