A Facebook user has posted images showing classified documents containing the deck plans for Britain’s Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers.
UPDATE: THE POLICE HAVE RECOVERED THE DOCUMENTS.
The user is boasting that he is holding on to classified material, here are the screenshots.
An image of the document and comments discussing the document was posted on a Facebook discussion group related to the carriers. The poster captioned his post with “I think I was supposed to return these!”, acknowledging that he is aware he shouldn’t have them.
When other users challenged the poster, he replied by saying “They are only deck plans”. Here’s a close up of what was shared before the user was removed from the group to prevent other sections of these documents from being posted.
You can see what’s marked clearly on both documents.Assembly Cycle B and C are the second and third stages of the carrier builds that saw various blocks of hull and machinery integrated together.
While we have no specific information on what other pages from the document were posted, a user commented this later in the comment thread on the post appearing to suggest that deck plans were visible. 
Please note that information from inside the documents will not be posted or discussed here.
The documents, dating from when the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carriers were being built, were classified using the Government Protective Marking Scheme.
The documents are marked ‘RESTRICTED’, which means: “Information marked as RESTRICTED is at a level where the release of the material will have effects such as significant distress to individuals, adversely affecting the effectiveness of military operations, or to compromise law enforcement.”
The user posting the documents is from Gosport and claims to have studied Electronic Engineering at the University of Portsmouth. A quick browse of his Facebook profile suggests he was involved in the Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carrier project. I will update this article when I learn more.
The user has since been removed from the Facebook group.
A Royal Navy spokesperson said:
“The images of aircraft carrier guides posted online were issued for use as a guide by anyone who joined the ships in build. They did not contain any sensitive information and are no longer in use.”
ser should note that the Government Security Classification Policy was updated in 2014. The term UK Restricted was replaced by Official at this time.
Does this story sound familiar to you? It should, last year a user posted a classified document online relating to the Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank in order to improve the accuracy of the design of the tank in combat game ‘War Thunder’.
War Thunder is a vehicular combat multiplayer video game developed and published by Gaijin Entertainment. Despite the fact that Gaijin Entertainment lists itself as a Cyprus-based studio, it was originally founded in Moscow, Russia, where it still has offices today.
Classified Challenger tank specs leaked online for videogame
A user identifying as a Challenger 2 commander posted specific excerpts from a Challenger 2 AESP (Army Equipment Support Publication, sort of like a user manual) to show game developers that they “didn’t model it correctly”. You can read more about this here.
What is wrong with these bellends?
Andy Warhol syndrome.
Lack of brain, and/or zero care for their country.
Before social media everyone understood their place in the world. Now people from all walks of life think they are celebrities. We used to look down on name-dropping in the prior century to the point it would get you ostracized in the circles I ran in. If you look at Instagram stories nowadays, that’s all it is, a culture of name-dropping (tagging). I see the posting of these documents in the same sort of vein as name-dropping. “Look at me; look at how connected and important I am!”
Well said that man.I think social media should be restricted.
True that Ron. It beggars belief that someone can be that narcissistic, and quite frankly stupid, that they feel it appropriate to post these things.
Do they not understand the national security implications, especially as they now put themselves in a position of being potentially targeted by opponents of the UK looking to acquire what I imagine is, at the very least, informative information?
I could imagine a ‘Russian tourist’ paying a visit to burgle the place while this wazzock is down the boozer watching the football in short order.
Sad truth or close to be:..
Seems the need to feel and express that you are more important than you actually are is the prime motivation in this media absorbed society. Western society will be at a massive disadvantage in any conflict with totalitarian states every military movement will be detailed on Twitter.
I just watched the movie ’ Don’t look up’ comedy but pretty much sums up the western world today.
Really well said! I think all social media should die, it would be a huge favor to society.
Social Media Greatness (SMG), which coincidently should be used upon them! 🤔
Attention seekers with no basic critical thinking skills.
All, me me me.
That’s where you’re wrong Tams, it’s all me, me, me, not you, you, you😂
And certainly not about ‘us’ or ‘team’ unless you spell team solely with the perpendicular pronoun.
https://youtu.be/r-s-Y4xA9pk
fitted for but not with
I think a visit from MOD plod is justified here?
It only say UK RESTRICTED on them so how could he know they were UK restricted I mean we are not expecting him to have any common sense are we?
Clearly he lacks both common sense and even a basic patriotism.
Even just identifying that he had classified docs in his possession is pretty dumb.
I am slightly surprised anyone would do anything that stupid after the alleged leaker of the F35B video was arrested.
The police have now spoken to the person in question and have returned the documents to the Ministry of Defence.
Good.
Thnx for the update.
Keep up the good work George!
Seriously!!!! Very silly.
Idiot!
I wonder how much Russia or China will pay for this type of information?
Unbelievably idiotic.
Does this sound familiar (WS-10 Engine)?
“Chinese hackers are believed to have stolen many terabytes worth of data related to the F-35 program, including information on the F-35’s radar design – such as the number and types of modules used by the system – and its engine, including the method used for cooling gases, leading and trailing edge treatments, and aft deck heating contour maps.”
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2021/07/how-china-stole-the-designs-for-the-f-35-stealth-fighter/
With someone this dumd in regards to Security i expect his social media tells entire life story including home address. Why would they pay just send somebody round an kick door in take what they want.
*dumb
Exactly my point above in reply to Ron.
Burgled within 24hrs of the post.
I dont think the plan for the QE (Or similar ship) class is so important if they dont have detailled systems data.
But any classified documents, or just confidential should not be publicly exposed. Its a simple rule to respect.
Such dumb people must be sued by justice.
Targeting your missiles?
It’s called the official secrets act; Now up to the police to prosecute. What an idiot.
And if the do the news of the prosecution will barely make the news and certainly won’t make it many’s social media bubble.
The police have now spoken to the person in question and have returned the documents to the Ministry of Defence.
It time to take these a–holes to task and charge them with treason alongside the politicians/CS/Military who “lose” confidential documents and equipment.
K**b!
As-Built plans are available @ Chatham, they show all Bulkheads and compartments.
but as the TOOL signed a certain document he will be lucky to still have his job @ BAEs @ Portsmouth.
Currently, the entire world has lost sight of what is classed as right and wrong.
But the @ Chatham stuff won’t have construction detail on it such as steel thickness, stiffeners etc?
This might well do?
Or what ductwork or services are routed through a compartment
Rather than his job, his whole reputation is impacted. This is restricted material, which other company would risk having someone who is a risk of revealing sensitive information. One would think studying for a degree such as his he would have some wisdom to not spout online and quietly return the booklets back and get off without slack, but as they say, one can have intelligence without being wise.
I do hope the gov goes hard on such cases, our main advantage is the technologolical advantage, such tools as these help the enemy close the gap. Very costly.
I would have thought documents of this type would be signed out and signed back In again
There are four basic levels of security:
Restricted
Confidential
Secret
Top Secret
Each has its own rules pertaining to document ownership, sign out requirements, transport, storage, destruction etc.
‘Restricted’ is therefore the lowest level and IIRC does not require to be signed out or even individually registered. It should not; however, be shared in any way!
Restricted is so last year…
Documents changed some time ago to Official
Official Sensitive.
If I think the other classifications remain as is… Secret, Top Sectret and Compartmentalised Code Word.
Ah; fair enough.
It’s been over a decade since I had to deal with it!
Surely this will get jail time?!
He will certainly lose his security clearance and therefore his job if he is still in the same employment.
And all future jobs in the same line…
well these two are never gonna see the light of day again nor will the leaker but the MOD have a problem
“Don’t they have any common sense?!” everyone asks.
The problem with common sense is that the common person is an idiot.
Yep, and new technology allows them to express their idiocy globally.
They lack the self-awareness to recognise that just because they don’t understand the ramifications of their actions doesn’t mean there won’t be any.
Why do the government allow these documents out of the office? This is tantamount to Treason, I could never do anything that would hurt this country, why do other simpletons think it’s OK to do it? This is what you get when the country started to disintegrate following to loss of the “British” identity. From divided loyalty when a Scots Indy supporter shared MOD information with the SNP, the idiot posting Challenger 3 data in a game and ow this show-off.
Time in the past would have seen people disappear for this! The government needs to track this idiot down and make an Almighty example of them to make others think twice.
Where is our patriotism?
at least they weren’t found at a bus stop again.
Im not suprised though.You just have to watch the latest warship at sea documentary and the crew are walking round with their mobiles.And when they were near the Russian spy ship they had to give their sim cards in.Sorry but each sailor should have to log their mobiles when boarding and the phone checked it only has ONE sim card.The youth of today live on social media and id bet my navy pension that one idiot will have been on their phone while passing that spy ship.Mobiles should be locked away and only used at certain times.
Thats all well and good but then people would also be moaning that no one is joining the military, and then we would have no one to crew the ships in the first place.
That was quicker than I expecting it to be leaked…
God is opsec just not a thing anymore, i mean this is the thrid high profile case of such a thing. Surely people would have released.
I was never in favour of eugenics. I’m against stopping the chronically stupid from passing on their genes. However…
I imagine that someone will have knocked on his door by now.
Regarding hackers stealing information from the net: I often wonder why all this secret information is on the end of fibre optic cable for all to access. If the important information is only held on equipment that is not actually attached to the WWW, people can’t hack into it. I see no reason for all this info to be held this way. Why not just within fixed cells, where no external connection is available. They keep saying that their security is second to none, then have to explain how someone broke into it. Maybe I’m just being simplistic, but if I was dealing with something so highly secret, I wouldn’t have any links, wireless, or hard wired to the net.
On the other hand, how much has been leaked and the leak covered up? It’s like some big game, isn’t it.
I always find it amazing in the UK when we announced a defence project we list all the companies and institutions involved. Basically a list of who to hack.
You are referring to air gapped systems, which do exist. However, properly designed and secured networks do mitigate the risk of connected systems. In my experience however the problem usually isn’t the technology, it’s the users who don’t follow instructions/rules because they find them inconvenient.
BTW the Iranian nuclear systems were air gapped, it still didn’t stop the US/Israelis getting a virus on to them destroying equipment.
Rule one in regards to risk in any system where you are managing confidential or sensitive data if it can be fucked up in a specific way someone will inevitably do so.
I would say it’s possible to prevent this sort of thing but in truth, na its aways going to happen, especially with social media which seems to cause people’s ability to make reasonable judgements to Just Liquefy and run out their ears. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve investigated serous professions breach’s in social media and I work in a field where most of the employees at least have a degree and a professional registration to lose.
The best breach was when some poor fool managed to send a confidential and sensitive email to the entire workforce of 5000 staff ( god knows how, we never figured it out as the system should not have allowed it)…the problem was everyone else started send back…. this a breach…..by reply all so it took us about a week to finally get everyone to stop responding by relyto all…. every time we though we had it someone would start the whole cascade again ( I’m sure some people did it on purpose to drive me nuts) it was like some sort of email virus…
Good Morning Gentlemen(and Ladies if there are any here says he not wishing to sound patronising but wanting to be inclusive😬)
Have a look at the Mail Online article regarding the departure of Prince of Wales from Portsmouth. Brilliant photos to start your day, but then if you want a laugh(or cry) or if you need to raise your blood pressure, read the comments section!!
Never in the field of Human communication has so much ignorance been confined to so little space….
I wanted to comment back to Sarah B, and American who said the PoW was a lumbering vessel. She has a similar turn of speed to a nuclear-powered US carrier.
But I could not see how to make a comment, even when ‘signed in’.
‘Restricted’ is the old equivalent to ‘OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE’. Documents so marked aren’t so sensitive that they need to be registered and accounted for, and can be handed out to anyone who has a reasonable case for needing them. So- as regards the person releasing them I would agree with Swindon Steve’s assessment, but as security breaches go I wouldn’t lose sleep over this one.
The police have now spoken to the person in question and have returned the documents to the Ministry of Defence.
I suspect that if I went through my garage, I would find a number of documents classified as “UK Restricted”. A lot of documents were so registered, not because the information was sensitive, but because it was possibly part of a series of publications. The Army uses “Army Equipment Support Publications” (AESP’s), for most if not all its equipment. This includes repair instructions, maintenance instructions, parts list and operator handbooks. Therefore the Land-Rover 90/110’s has an Operators handbook, almost identical to that supplied to joe-public, but listed as “UK Restricted”. Its not the marking that is possibly the issue, but what it shows. The picture shown gives nothing away, so unless they posted additional images, I don’t really think it is as big an issue as some make out.
I know its slightly off track but anyone looking at the first photo with both carriers side by side cannot say that its not impressive. Yes even if both flight decks are not full. We do need to remember that full carrier strike capability will not be until 2023. Everything the RN is doing with the carriers is still working them up to fully operational strike carriers. Strangly enough as I was writing this short note I came to the realisation that to operate both carriers as a single unit would need not as many escorts as two individual carrier groups.
S.O.P for many. Air wing must arrive at exactly the same time as the carriers, as if by magic.
They do not need working up.
They do not need to trial.
They must be full of AC even if unused in Pompey.
The BIV saga does not exist.
HMG will buy planes regardless of higher costs.
Training in the OCU happens instantaneously.
We have no aircraft.
Now now DM, I agree with you we can just have a ready born fully grown carrier strike group on paper.
I also wonder whether there is a culture now of people thinking it’s Ok to leak things. Whatever the rights and wrongs of Downing Street parties, it’s worrying that people in Downing Street think it’s OK to leak things. What else do they have access to that they could leak. No one seems to be taken to task for leaking stuff.
Yes, I never see any media asking. Why? Why now?
It is the timing for me.
Why wait almost 2 years? Report it after it happened.
There are forces at work to “Get Boris” and the Tories, I would guess because of Brexit.
That he is a disordered dimwit who bumbles into it by either allowing his staff to behave like this, knows of it and allows it, or does not even know what goes on under his roof makes it easier for them.
A prison sentence would be the only to deal with the person who posted that information.
Special Branch have just had their weekend leave spoilt. Hope the op enjoys picking up soap in the prison showers.
If this Richatd Cranium was supposedly working on the QE class in Pompey DY and has removed Restricted Docs from BAE he surely would have signed a certain document that us in the services had also signed and if so throw the book at him (not the one posted ) .Having worked in the mental health sector it would seem that this person may be on the A spectrum or just a Dickhead
What was your new year’s commitment – to carry on being a bellend and do my best to get prosecuted for illegal possession of classified documents.
What a clever ‘person’. It’s been a few years but my recollection is that if handling restricted docs then you were obligated to return them as soon as
A. You no longer required them for an authorized purpose &
B. To return them immediately even if not prompted to do so by others.
“I forgot” or ” X didn’t ask for them back” weren’t deemed valid defense and left you liable for a spell in the brig for at least as long as it was looked into. If a civvie contractor I’d guess holding in the nick instead.
Idiocy abounds amongst some I guess.
RESTRICTED is about as low a classification as it gets. You don’t sign for it you don’t muster it.
Heck most of my Tiff course work including my Task Book from Collingwood had restricted on it.
However putting it on Facebook… Shows he is a tool.
Cyprus has very close ties to Russia so no one should be fooled by anything that ‘originates’ in Cyprus.
Absolute idiot. He should get jail time or at least a huge fine could you imagine if Russia or China got hold of the plans. Already could be a huge war on the horizon if Putin keeps on. Will only take a spark and it will all kick off big style. Some thing Is going to happen. Russian ships off Irish coast and Russia ships coming down into English Channel they are upto something
Perhaps Airfix will finally be able to do that 1/350 HMS Queen Elizabeth kit that they polled us about a few years back… I’d buy it.
(Ostrich Hobby does a smaller – but still reasonable size – 1/700 waterline kit in resin)