Posted on 04/09/2011 9:16:40 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Aircraft carrier: A mind-boggling building job
By Chris Summers
BBC News
In a shipyard in Scotland the future of the Royal Navy is slowly taking shape. But the construction of the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is a mammoth task.
Imagine an aircraft carrier as a 65,000-tonne jigsaw puzzle and you have got a good idea of the scale of the building of HMS Queen Elizabeth.
The pieces are being built at six shipyards around the UK and will be slotted together at Rosyth in Fife using an enormous crane which was transported by sea from China.
Around 10,000 workers across Britain are employed on the £5bn project with up to 25,000 engaged in building components for the Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft.
The carrier will have between 12 and 40 F-35s, or Joint Strike Fighters, costing around £65m each.
"It's the biggest shipbuilding project for the Royal Navy ever and is second only in engineering terms to the Olympics," says the man in charge of the whole project, David Downs, engineering director with the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA) consortium.
"All my nights are sleepless, worrying about it," he jokes.
The Queen Elizabeth and sister ship Prince of Wales will be far bigger than the Ark Royal but still significantly smaller than US equivalents.
Downs and his team designed the ships using computer software - every inch mapped out electronically with laser-guided measurements which ensure each part fits together.
Uniquely, a team of assessors from Lloyd's Register are on hand at all the yards to check the work as it proceeds.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
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It’ll be scrapped before it’s finished.
Fixed.
I know that they need a more original name for it, that’s for sure.
Hope this PRINCE OF WALES fares better than the last one.
That's all???? How come the US doesn't get that price???
It’ll be fine, as long as they don’t put anyone named Tom Thumb in command.
So, are these the ships they were supposed to build with the French, as time-share ships?
And what is China’s place in the jigsaw puzzle?
And are they really *sure* about those measurements? Airbus experience would seem somewhat discouraging...
Seems I recall the ship will be afloat for at least two-years before the JSF arrives.
65M pounds each equals about 120M dollars, maybe 115M dollars each. They are paying the same as us.
I don’t get it.
As a ship, its not more complex than the 200+ capital warships the UK has built since the late 19th century, not to mention the numerous large ocean liners, etc.
All of those had to deal with integrating complex steam-driven machinery, weapons turrets, automated ammunition handling, mechanical fire control systems, etc. Even a 19th century pre-dreadnought was a very complex system.
If anything the computer aided design and modular construction make it a simpler project than most of those.
The really complex parts of this thing are in the electronics and other superstructure items, unless I’m missing something.
Perhaps the real problem is that the UK has seriously declined in naval engineering skills ?
Still don’t understand why they did use a nuke powerplant..heck, we could have sold they turnkey systems..
“heck, we could have sold they turnkey systems..”
Most military procurements are actually corporate welfare programs. I can’t complain, having worked in the military industrial complex for 30 years. But if the purpose was to build the best weapons at the cheapest price; even if you have to buy only your own stuff; it could be done a LOT cheaper than currently. The entire process is intended to cost lots of money.
I asked a Honeywell director why they bought “aircraft” grade 24’ pieces of lumber to build temporary 8’ walls. He said, “Profit is a percentage of cost.” That’s just one example.
I believe that was over the house of Commons too boot.
The only thing wrong with that ship is the name. Even worse to name the entire class with it.
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