ROSYTH: Britain's most advanced and biggest warship, 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, is conducting sea trials ahead of her commissioning in 2018.
The ship cost £3.0 billion (3.4 billion euros, USD 3.8 billion) to build in a project employing 10,000 people and will be the country's future flagship. The vessel outstrips aircraft carriers operated by the Russian and Chinese navies as also Indian Navy’s INS Vikramaditya.
The ship, which measures 280 metres and can move 500 miles a day, took 11 tugs to manoeuvre out into the River Forth and then must wait for low tide so as to pass under the Forth's famous bridges - weather and systems checks permitting.
It can operate with a crew of 1,000 and 40 aircraft.
Britain has been without any carrier strike capability since the government scrapped previous vessels in 2010 as part of austerity measures to curb a huge deficit.
The prime minister David Cameron said at the time that the ship "will be the spearhead of British sea power for the next half century".
The ship was built by a partnership comprising arms makers BAE Systems, Babcock, Thales and the Ministry of Defence.
The project was dogged by questions about the US-built F-35 jets due to be deployed on the aircraft carrier and about the need for mammoth aircraft carriers when Britain's military role in the world has diminished.
The F-35 stealth fighter, which is being built by the US in conjunction with Britain and other countries, has been heavily criticised for its high price tag and a series of delays over air safety concerns.
A sister ship to the new aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is also being built at the Rosyth Dockyard.
It took eight years to build HMS Queen Elizabeth and along with its sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, it is part of a defence programme worth 6 billion pounds ($7.65 billion), with building and fitting spread over six different shipyards across Britain. It will now spend around two years in sea trials.
No comments:
Post a Comment