Aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth has arrived in Scotland for a logistics stop.
The 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier is returning to Glenmallan on the Clyde in Scotland for a routine logistics visit.
This will be the third the vessel has visited the Northern Ammunition Jetty at Glen Mallan near Faslane since it was upgraded.
According to a news release on the upgrade work:
“We awarded a £67m contract to VolkerStevin in 2019. Alongside them, we worked with managing agent Jacobs, which provided engineering and professional services, as well as designer Arch Henderson. In completing this major project, £20m was spent with local suppliers and small and medium enterprises in Scotland. The jetty was last upgraded in the 1970s and had reached the end of its economic life. The upgrade work has not only extended the life of the jetty by an estimated fifty years, but has also made the site accessible for the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.
In fact, HMS Queen Elizabeth visited part way through the work, back in March 2021, in preparation for her first operational deployment. This was not originally planned but became necessary when the scale of the ship’s deployment increased, presenting the team with a challenge to make the jetty operational in time for her arrival. Everyone involved, from DIO, VolkerStevin, Jacobs and the various subcontractors worked closely together to enable HMS Queen Elizabeth to berth at the unfinished jetty, which she did successfully.”
This summer the vessel will be deployed to the Mediterranean in a show of naval strength. The ship recently tweeted, “It’s time to put the ship and crew through their paces as we train for our next deployment!”
Funny isn’t it? There are still ‘defence experts’ saying she just sits in Portsmouth looking forlorn!
They need to get RFA Fort Victoria operational again before they send HMS QE on another jaunt
Hmm…been perusing Navy Lookout current articles again? 😁 Difficult to believe an extended maintenance period could not resolve a compressor system issue, but if USN MSC T-AKE vessel is part of the CSG, answer will be glaringly obvious. Admiralty probably very relieved successor build underway. 😉
Agree w/ your assessment; the rationale presented by Navy Lookout does not hold water (sorry, couldn’t resist that). Perhaps more manning issue?
…more serious manning issue than previously acknowledged?
I see the usual suspects haven’t shown up yet so allow me to comment for them… something something “nO pLAnEs!” mumble mumble “exPenSiVE WhiTE ElePHanT!” something something “it’S alWAYs BroKEn!” mumble mumble “mY BrAiN huRtS”
Dauntless looked fine to me when I observed her in Pompey dockyard alongside Duncan and getting ready for her hurricane season and drug detection duties in the Caribbean.
Bon voyage
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British aircraft carrier arrives in …. Britain
Maybe someone should invite the leader of the SNP for a visit whilst she is in the area. I believe she has some form of Armour onboard he could inspect.
He could then report back to his colleagues.
Just Saying 🤭
Perhaps the SNP leader could travel there in their under-used luxury motorhome!
It isn’t a Luxury Motorhome, it is a strategically disguised Battle Bus to be used to deter those heathen English folks by blocking off the North 500.
I wonder what has happened to it ?
It was parked on the drive of the elderly mother-in-law for 2 years. I hear Police have taken it away.
And uninsured 🤔
That cracked me up!
Anyone remember the movie ‘Stripes?’ 😁
Get the ship’s company to line up on the flight deck wearing flack vests – job done 😉
Are you volunteering to try and find out ?
Pandering to the SNP again… now they can say they have two aircraft carriers in Scotland.
😜
There may be two in Scotland with the £3.2 billion one sitting at Rosyth being used to provide spares.
Nope, they are fixing it
Saw her passing Innellan on the way. Up this morning.
Any idea how long HMS QE will be there
On our way south on 31st & would take a fiversion via Loch Long if there was a chance she might still be at the jetty.
I really don’t know. I had a look for her this morning but nothing to report.
That’s a very big, armoured ferry innit?
The anti Scottish comments arising again, but happy to use the country as an arms dump
Bore off! There’s many dumps on Scotland to be sure!
Morning Airborne😎
Morning mate 👍😇
The QE3 will be departing for sky at 1400hrs special prices for cars vans and 50% discount for battle busses
Good Morning John. Scotland is our family’s ancestral home of which we are very proud but I am not a fan of the SNP and particularly the strange antics of their new leader. Scotland and the SNP are not the same.
I would be a fan of the Alba party
Morning John. Alex Salmond is/was a highly capable politician and seems would be a nice guy to have a beer with. He visited SA some years back but I did not get a chance to hear him speak. I emphasize that I am a died in the wool Unionist but doesn’t mean we have to be enemies. My best friend at University in Durban in the 1960’s was a Scot Nat from Dundee who used to sing a Nat(and Republican) version of the Sash 🙂 but it never interfered with our friendship. Alba is OK-I like them because they split… Read more »
😂Hi Andy. True Story-I had a friend here in SA who was in charge of the old Natal Parks Board Inland fisheries section. His name was Tom Pike😆
I think its noticeable that the RN is dispersing its assets and is wary of Putin making another much bigger mistake. Another reason why QE class needs its own Seaceptor onboard system.
Or 1-2 RAMs paired with the Phalanx’s. Plus 2-3 RWSs for any smaller stuff.
Geoff, Perhaps the antics of the previous two leaders were a little strange also!
🙂 🙂
Yup, real lifes a bummer 😂
And yet there are more arms dumps in England.
And I don’t see any anti Scottish comments, just anti SNP comments.
What is your position?
Proud to be Scots is not SNP, which is a departure from everything where Scotland is most comfortable and productive.
IMO it is a statement of global intent. Little use for the defence of these islands, but you can’t send a task group to the other end of the globe without air cover. Conversely you can’t sent a carrier without surface group cover, mutual dependence. 🌂
I wonder if the QE will be going up North and work with the USS G Ford?
Very likely as a show of strength. As well as being the most likely way QEC would be used as part of a multinational CSG.
The “Caspian Report” on the tube gave a decent analysis last week on the Arctic and the rush to militarise the area. What amazed me was the shortening of freight shipping distance from China using that route. Worth a view, and makes sense to prioritise European interests in that area. He also alluded to the oil and mineral reserves, as yet, untapped.
Slightly off-topic but very interesting news. Imperial College working with Royal Navy on a groundbreaking system to replace GPS on ships Academics have been using a ship to explore a quantum accelerometer, the UK’s first commercially viable quantum navigation system “According to Imperial College London, accelerometers work by measuring how an object’s speed changes over time. It uses this velocity and the object’s starting point to calculate the new position. The concept was developed in a laboratory and now for the first time has been tested on water. In order to get the precision for long periods of time, the… Read more »
That is very very interesting. If viable would remove the need for GPS and make military assets and I guess targeting systems unjammable.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. I wonder if that includes munitions too?
I think that’s some way off or perhaps even impossible due to the way this system works
https://youtu.be/xcqkXkWZhbM
That really would be a pity.
Off topic but sure its of interest to you
https://breakingdefense-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/breakingdefense.com/2023/05/short-of-dream-interoperability-rival-european-fighter-programs-share-some-tech/?amp=1
Hi Expat, thank you. I posted last week about the relationship between the two projects but no detail was given at the time of writing.
So, share all of our technology with them so they can build theirs? I hope not!
The use of accelerometers and cumulative motion calculations to measure location has been around for a very long time and often act as a short term protection for gps. Inertial navigation systems generally rely on gyro’s to keep the accelerometers alligned. As the gyro’s process over time, they gradually induce an error that needs a periodic reset from gps.
As i understand it, the revolution, barely mentioned or explained, is the use of quantum measurements to remove the need for, or error in the gyros giving a much longer period of accuracy….
Thank you for the detailed explanation Dave G, could this also be used to direct munitions (Tomahawk) to its intended target?
In principle… not knowing the details, it depends on size weight and accuracy. According to wiki, tlam already has an inertial system and gps independent means to correct so prob doesnt need it: “ Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation. A digitized image of an area is mapped and then inserted into a TLAM mission. During the flight the missile will verify that the images that it has stored correlates with the image it sees below itself. Based on comparison results the missile’s inertial navigation system is updated and the missile corrects its course.” Having an accurate start point to work… Read more »
This helps explain the science behind the system a bit, essentially you cool atoms then measure its movement very precisely.
https://youtu.be/xcqkXkWZhbM
Thank you again for your explanation, it sounds very promising for the RN going forward and hopefully other areas of defence too.
It’s also how SMs navigate underwater using SINS. Every now and again popping upto PD to get a GPS fix to update SINS position.
Good point👍
Read a recent article that stated MoD has sponsored development of a prototype quantum compass. Predict maturation of design as either a Pillar 1 or 2 programme w/in AUKUS. Eventually will reduce/eliminate GPS dependency for SM navigation. Believe it was clever lads from Oxbridge or U. of London. ..🤔
Ahh .. Nigel faster on the trigger…😁
Nigel, I think this is the progression of a concept that started development some time ago, first came to light in 2014.
https://www.extremetech.com/defense/182973-uk-military-creates-quantum-compass-that-could-be-the-successor-to-gps
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/188973/quantum-compass-could-allow-navigation-without/
Thank you for the link, clearly progress in this critical area is progressing in the right direction!
,👍
More than 20 years ago a friend of mine was captain of BA 747 flights from Heathrow to New York and reported that their Inertial Navigation System was usually just 4 metres out by the time they got to NYC. I believe that was based on mechanical gyroscopes. Crossing the Atlantic to achieve that accuracy was impressive though passenger aircraft are not subject to military flight envelope nor ballistic missile behaviour. Now that Inertial Measurement Units are fully digital (Lazer interferometry) you would expect that INS is cheap and available. Especially since mass tech has production in the billions of… Read more »
Being 4 meters out over 3,461.34 miles is quite impressive, I wonder how much more accurate this system will be.
Home port is Portsmouth, yet our carriers have to go to Scotland for ammunition? Not very efficient or cost-effective, surely. Can anyone explain that to me?
Well as our prime NATO task is in the Northern Atlantic, GIUK Gap and the Artic you don’t want to be going 600 extra miles to rearm or refuel.
Like the rest of the U.K heavy depots you need decent deep water access to the Atlantic, remote from any population centres and preferably under a few hundred feet of Granite.
Hence Coulport, Faslaine, Lock Malin for Subs, Nucs, Missiles and Munitions and Loch Ewe, Loch Striven and Cambeltown and Altbea for fuel.
Military ship arrived in Dunoon the other Day 😳
I assumed that HMS QE had gone from Portsmouth to the Clyde to get ammunition, which suggested that she could not ‘bomb up’ in Pompey, but is that because there is no ammunition depot in Pompey for civilian safety reasons?
Maybe I got it wrong.
Very useful to have ammunition bunkers and fuel stocks at each end of the country, I would have thought.
Bomb Stock ( North ) is Glen Douglas. Bomb Stock ( South ) I believe is Kineton.
Yes, the DM site at Gosport serving HMNB Portsmouth does not deal with that sort of ammunition, but has IWCs for more complex weapons ( missiles ), CIWS, and so on.
Thanks Daniele.
Also of interest perhaps is that the army has a munitions depot in Germany at Wulfen, part of ‘British Army Germany’.
That’s right mate, it does. One of the retained sites along with Ayrshire Barracks and the CHE vehicle storage area. The smaller DM compounds I referred to are at Larkhill, Tidworth ( for SPTA ), Catterick, within SENTA, at its eastern end, and another that I forget! Used for army training and outstations of Kineton. There was another at Puckeridge Barracks west of Aldershot but that is now I think accom for a MWDU. And Dean Hill near Salisbury, which closed in the 90s. Regards ammunition/weapon storage… FI, Gib, and the Cyprus SBAs also have quite large sites, as do… Read more »
Thanks Daniele. I have no idea how you know all this stuff!
Correction, the SENTA ammo store is on the western side, not east.
I just have to say my wife loves your “can’t get enough” album. 😂
oops wrong person
Another facility in the south would be sensible.
Each HMNB I’m the South already has a DM ( Defence Munitions ) facility. DM Ernsettle ( now DM Plymouth ) for Devonport and DM Gosport for Portsmouth. Ernsettle is under a hill, and has railway access. They are joined by Glen Douglas, Beith, Crombie in Scotland and Kineton, Longtown ( Eastriggs ) in northern England. Beneath are several DM Compounds at a few garrisons. I do not include Coulport as that is rather different. The kind of munitions that QEC is collecting are in 2 places, Kineton, or Glen Douglas. Kineton is land locked, and Douglas is where it… Read more »
Hi Daniel
Dont comment much on here as i normally get told off becouse i moan a lot as all i hear is Pompy this and Pompy that and not a lot about my first place of work well second as my first place was RNAD (now DM) Ernesettle
Just thought i would mention it as you did
Hi Barry.
You’re fine with me mate. I remember, you’ve posted often regards Devonport and its supposed lack of attention. Ignore the tellings off, it is dear to you so why not.
Thanks for that Daniele, good to know.
As Daniele mentions below there are other smaller depots at the southern Naval bases. But when it comes to a QE carrier we are talking a different level of magnitude and that amount of HE requires special care. DM Glen Douglas is huge, it was at one point the NATO forward munitions depot for the North Atlantic and Artic for RN, US and NL ships and it is very well protected. It has a purpose built road system down to the Glen Mallan Jetty and is far away from anywhere so if anything goes wrong 🤞🏻civilians don’t get hurt. To… Read more »
Yep, one of our key sites, the UG area is huge.
Thanks or explaining Rodney.
British Aircraft Carrier arrives in Scotland… to pick up some more cannibalised spare parts from the HMS POW spare parts shop?
Doesn’t matter if it does. The Navy says PoW will return to duty in August.
I disagree to be honest. All this time laid up tied to a jetty in Scotland. Whatever repair work needed to take place, it’s all money down the drain.
Wonder if Babcock will be billed for the misaligned prop shaft ?
Hi Peter
If the prop shaft/s were misaligned, I doubt if the ship would have got to sea, conducted sea trials (some of which are extreme) and then manage to sail to Portsmouth. Misaligned shafts of that size, would have caused pretty much catastrophic failures during the sea trials.
Whoever then (allegedly) said the ship was seaworthy, and in all aspects ready to depart to the US, to my mind is guilty of gross misconduct, and possibly open to charge of negligence, and criminal damage.
Breaking defense news said the Government report found 0.8 -1 mm alignment error , this was known about but build pushed on for political reasons. Due to the BAE, Babcock and Thales aircraft carrier alliance partnership being defunct it complicates legal proceedings in liability for the repair bill!
Courtesy visit to hostile foreign nation eh?
Just a floating scrap yard
I can see your green gills from here.
Your glass is certainly half empty! These ships are incredibly complex and you cannot expect them to not have teething problems or to never require maintenance.
Unlike civvy stuff, like cars and aircraft, you cannot build a prototype, fix it, build a pre-production version, fix it, then build production platforms. It is amazing so little has gone wrong with the carriers. The US who, unlike us, have had continuous experience at building carriers had huge problems with USS Gerald R Ford.
Well they did decide to introduce new versions of just about everything except a hull, Flat angled deck and propellers. All at one go they went for new Cats, Traps, lifts, Radars, Reactors, Electrical distribution system, internal comms, manning levels etc etc.
So if she was a civilian car she is a pre production prototype and so the next 2 take a downgrade due to the cost
Yep…and our experience was that no-one in the UK had designed a carrier since the late 60s or built one since the 1970s – and that had been a small, but conventional design. QE-class was far more radical. So no surprise that a few teething troubles crept in.
Have known individuals in a private plane partnership and those in a yacht partnership. To a man, they claim the happiest days are the purchase date and the sale date, and that you don”t really have to touch a plane or boat, you can simply sit and observe them breakdown. Now, scale that experience to leading edge military aircraft and warships. 🤔😳😉
.
I wonder now prior to CSG 5025 whether we will see any enhancements to the carrier’s defensive systems? Still just the three Phalanx’s. I asked this before, are there any hard-soft kill decoys on board as on other RN ships? Any plans for additional RWS’, 40mm, or Dragonfire? The Taiwanese have just designed a 24 RAM style launcher which if with ER Martlet/HVM and paired with Phalanx’s could be fabulous.
*Oryx launcher. Looks like a 5*4=20.
And all those decades ago the UK had developed the Sea Streak system. What happened with that? What a could have been. Just look at the success of the RAM launcher system worldwide. Need to back UK industry more.
*lol… make that CSG 2025!
Stop defense cuts and this would not happen,, the uk needs to have a deterrent just incase there is a threat to us.