The aircraft carrier will return to sea after repairs to fix flooding damage are concluded.
In May 2020, HMS Prince of Wales experienced flooding which the Royal Navy described as “minor”. This was followed by more significant flooding in October 2020 which caused damage to her electrical cabling.
Stephen Morgan, Shadow Minister for Defence, asked:
“To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2020 to Question 126964 on HMS Prince of Wales: Repairs and Maintenance, what estimate he has made of the cost of the repairs.”
Jeremy Quin, Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence, responded:
“The estimated incremental cost of the repair work is £3.3 million.”
Quin added:
“HMS PRINCE OF WALES will return to sea in May 2021 to commence preparations for her next planned operational tasking. This underway period will take the form of activities in UK waters prior to her undertaking NATO Command duties in 2022.”
The carrier is currently alongside in Portsmouth where she is expected to remain whilst repairs are made. Her long-planned deployment to the United States to undertake her first F-35B trials has unfortunately been cancelled as a result of the flooding damage.
Any idea when and where PoW will undertake her F35 trials?
If she is still planned to deploy in 2022, then I am guessing she will need to get those trials done in 2021 to allow suffficient time for the crew to work up with jets embarked. Or will she deploy with no jets?
Cheers CR
Sometime after May 2021.
🙂 OK clever cloggs I asked for that 🙂
Cheers CR
Now that’s bloody funny hehe
Smiley Face and Wink….. ! Merry christmas CR, I enjoy your posts.
Ill just try to answer the second part as far as I understand it is planned that PoW will undergo F35B trials in UK waters, not the US. It is one of the reasons I think that QE will not have a full outfit of F35s in her overseas deployment in 2021.
Have a good Christmas and a really good new year CR. Stay safe and keep your head down.
I think that will be in POOL
A shambles
No, Not really…… I reckon your own design would have been no better……. Can you post your own design here please so that we can see Just how much better Your Design would be……
The French carrier has had numerous problems throughout it’s career, the brand new Gerald R. Ford carrier has also had massive delays and technical problems, it’s not only our ships that run into snags from time to time.
Don’t they pressure test plumbing with nitrogen ?
It’s all fully tested I guess …. and then there is the U Boat Captain who sank his own sub when he got the valve sequence wrong when flushing his toilet! ?
Shit happens !