Queen Elizabeth: Giant 65,000-tonne Vessel Is Royal Navy's Great White Hope!

[Pulsar]

This is for those who missed the launch of the HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Navy's largest-ever aircraft carrier last year.

Though a shade smaller than the largest ACs in the world, the US Nimitz Class carriers, with a full load displacement of 97,000 tons, this one is going to bristle with the latest technology.

This 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier is the Royal Navy's largest ever ship, and will become fully operational by 2020.

The Queen has ushered in a new era of British naval power by naming the Royal Navy's biggest ever ship after herself.

Here's how it happened....

In a ceremony at Rosyth Dockyard in Fife,the Queen gave the signal for a bottle of whisky to be smashed against the hull of the 65,000-tonne vessel, confirming its title as HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The monarch, wearing pale blue, spoke of her pride at being associated with the Royal Navy, and called the huge ship a 'magnificent achievement'.

In the run-up to the Queen's action the red arrows made a dramatic flypast in front of dignitaries including the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prime Minister.

The Queen pressed a button to release the bottle of whiskey, formally naming the ship HMS Queen Elizabeth

Flyover: A procession of military helicopters also made their way over the HMS Queen Elizabeth during the ceremony. The ship is designed to hold RAF Chinooks

Display: Red Arrows pass over the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier during the naming ceremony
at the dockyard in Rosyth, Scotland

Flying high: The ship, which will become operational in 2020, will carry F-35 Lightning strike
fighters, which it will be able to deploy at a rate of one every 30 seconds

F-35 LIGHTNING: CUTTING-EDGE JET SET TO LAUNCH FROM NEW CARRIER

The F-35 Lightning is the cutting-edge fighter plane which will launch from HMS Queen Elizabeth when she is fully operational from 2020.

The state-of-the-art jets, one of which is pictured above on the carrier will be specially modified with a powerful vertical lift system to help them take off and land from the relatively short space of the carriers runway.

A fully-equipped HMS Queen Elizabeth will be able to carry 40 of the jets. The ship's mighty central lift can transport two of the planes from the hold onto the deck every minute. They will then be able to take off at a rate of one every 30 seconds, meaning the entire contingent could theoretically be airborne in 20 minutes.

They will replace the old Harrier jump-jets, which were retired in 2010. The RAF has ordered 48 of the fighters from U.S. manufacturer Lockheed Martin, and has so far received three.

In action: This computer-generated image, provided by the Ministry of Defence, shows how the finished HMS Queen Elizabeth will look in action. In the above image an F-35 Lightning lands vertically on the vessel's huge deck, which is long enough to hold four jumbo jets

March: Members of the Royal Navy march passed the ship to take their place in the symbolic ceremony

Pomp: Sailors and a military band performed drills and pieces of music ahead of commemorative speeches at the ceremony

Scale: The HMS Queen Elizabeth, with the brown deck in its early stages of construction, is pictured next to the HMS Illustrious which it dwarfs in size


'Wherever this ship may serve, whatever tasks may be asked of her, let all those who serve on her know that on this day she was blessed with the prayers of us all for her success and for her safe return to calm waters.

'I name this ship Queen Elizabeth, may god bless her and all who sail in her.'

The naming of the warship comes five years after the first metal was cut on the vessel and 33 months after the first section entered the dry dock at Rosyth to begin being put together.

The ship and a second vessel, the under-construction HMS Prince of Wales, are the largest warships ever built for the Royal Navy.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is now structurally complete and ready to be floated out of her dock for the first time this month, shortly after being named by the Queen.

The two ships are both termed Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers and are being built by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA), a partnership of BAE Systems, Babcock, Thales and the Ministry of Defence. Overall, six shipyards around the UK - Appledore, Birkenhead, Govan, Portsmouth, Rosyth and Tyne - have been involved in building various parts of the carriers.

More here....Queen uses bottle of WHISKY to name Royal Navy's biggest ever ship HMS Queen Elizabeth | Daily Mail Online

 

[Manindra]

This is huge beast suppose to have CATOBAR but UK stupid budget cuts makes it flopping fish.

 

[truthseeker2010]

the ship of this size should have stobar or catobar layout, instead it is just a larger version of invincible class it replaces with stovl configuration. But since her majesty is short on cash, so just to retain its so called pride or a hope to return to its past glory, RN went with this.

 

[UKBengali]

The worst thing is that F-35 has been chosen as the carrier fighter.

 

[Manindra]

The worst thing is that F-35 has been chosen as the carrier fighter.

Its lame duck F-35B, F-35C chances missed due to stupid budget cuts which shelve plan for EMALS

 

[Providence]

an impressive piece of art

 

[Penguin]

Folks, this is only what she looks like now. Examine how carriers in RN service developed during their shiplife, various modifications, role changes etc. As for F-35, well it's B now, but C will be built in sufficient numbers to switch if and when necessary. Key point for RN, they get 2 of this base platform.

 

[truthseeker2010]

Folks, this is only what she looks like now. Examine how carriers in RN service developed during their shiplife, various modifications, role changes etc. As for F-35, well it's B now, but C will be built in sufficient numbers to switch if and when necessary. Key point for RN, they get 2 of this base platform.

for that happen they will have to do major modifications at the deck, plus propulsion system for catapults, there will be a major refit, and it will cost a lot which RN will not able to afford even in future, secondly why will they need to do that?

 

[Penguin]

for that happen they will have to do major modifications at the deck, plus propulsion system for catapults, there will be a major refit, and it will cost a lot which RN will not able to afford even in future, secondly why will they need to do that?

Have you looked at Invincibles?

Invincible 1980

Invincible 2005

 

[truthseeker2010]

Have you looked at Invincibles?

Invincible 1980

Invincible 2005

sir from the looks of it, they have lengthened the deck from sides, but no change in configuration. There you were saying that RN might operate F-35C from carriers, which will require carrier to change from STOVL to CATOBAR configration.

 

[Penguin]

sir from the looks of it, they have lengthened the deck from sides, but no change in configuration. There you were saying that RN might operate F-35C from carriers, which will require carrier to change from STOVL to CATOBAR configration.

You don't think that removal of the Sea Dart launcher, its 22 round below deck automated magazine, its fire control radars and plating the lot over (at a cost of twelve million pounds) in the 1980 (which allowed for extra deck space that enabled her to carry up to 22 aircraft, including the GR7.) as well as increasing the angle of the ski jump from 7 to 12 degrees, the adding better communications and reconfiguring the ship so that it can be more quickly switch between the light aircraft carrier and helicopter carrier roles in the 2000s constitute major modifications?

Have you looked into the history of INS VIraat, the ex-RN hms Hermes?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hermes_(R12)

Or the Audacious class carriers Eagle and Ark Royal?
Audacious-class aircraft carrier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

RN has quite a history in putting ships into new roles and/or modifying them accordingly.

 

[SipahSalar]

Seems it will be without any aircraft for a very long time. Any roadmap on when exactly Britain is getting it's F-35's?