HMS Queen Elizabeth has been refloated after a dry docking period.
Babcock had earlier won a £5 million contract for the first planned dry-dock maintenance of the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.
The carrier underwent a planned hull survey and maintenance of her underwater systems over a six-week period at the company’s Rosyth site.
We are afloat again!
Our dry docking period has been successfully completed on time, and we will shortly return to Sea for training in preparation for #WESTLANT19 ?? pic.twitter.com/xFVO9DZlar
— HMS Queen Elizabeth (@HMSQNLZ) May 21, 2019
HMS Queen Elizabeth will now soon sail to conduct further sea trials ahead of deploying again later this year for ‘WESTLANT 19’, where she will embark British F-35B jets for further tests.
She will deploy operationally in 2021.
Recently, engineers aboard sister ship HMS Prince of Wales which is also currently at Rosyth turned on the ships diesel generators for the first time, say the Royal Navy.
Simon Lister, managing director of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance added:
“To all involved – and that is a large proportion of the entire workforce – my thanks and congratulations on achieving the first diesel start. This has seen focused effort, great innovation, real perseverance in the face of setbacks, and a commitment to quality that has been truly impressive. These are becoming the hallmarks of HMS Prince of Wales. Great teamwork from a large number of groups and individuals. Well done, thank you, and now for the gas turbines!”
The builders are hoping Prince of Wales will be leaving Rosyth dockyard for sea trials this year. The Aircraft Carrier Alliance are confident she will be ready for sea trials by November 2019.
All good stuff.
Deploy operationally in 2021!! What takes so long or is this deliberately stretched because of lack of funds/resources?
Yes – always amazes me the lack of urgency in completing RN projects in a decent timescale. You can bet your bottom dollar that it the ship was on a charter party she would have been fully operational last year.
Here, here! it must increase costs substantially. A lack of urgency is a bad habit to be stuck in for a war fighting service. That said the blame almost certainly is the MOD/Treasury set in Treacle mode. Most of whom have limited experience in working on an entrepreneurial basis and wouldn’t last a week if they tried.
Indeed-remember what was achieved in the Falklands-Sidewinders on Harriers, Fleet at sea within a few days, Illustrious quickly finished and put to sea months ahead of schedule and deployed to the South Atlantic- too late to take part but in time to relieve Invincible. They even briefly considered trying to revive RO9 Ark Royal waiting to be next after Eagle for the scrapyard!
Or indeed the fitting of air refuelling probes to Hercules transport for the Falklands , design manufacture and fitting carried out By Marshalls in a matter of two or three weeks.
Amendmet to my post, may have been Nimrod
AW 101 Crowsnest first flight was March & we will be operating the F35 ski jump takeoff & rolling landing. Nobody else is doing that & it’s going to take time to learn safe parameters. I think she’s coming together nicely. & can’t wait to se her on manoeuvres with Type 45, Type 26 & Astute.
Hi folks hope all are well.
It’s a wonder the media did not mis-report to say the carrier had broken down and was being repaired. The press normally love to give negative reports about our military.
Good to hear about HMS PoW.
When is QE going to the east coast again? It’s around autumn again I think! Perhaps we could see them both together when PoW is on trials and QE I’d going to/coming from air trials in the US!
It will make a great picture when the two do sail together. I am looking forward to seeing that.
Obviously it would have been the perfect time to re-check and correct (if needed) the Propeller problem encountered during its first sea trials.
Look on with envy, Ivan. An actual dry dock..!
What needs to be remembered with the delay in deployment is that the QE still lacks it’s complement of F35B. It will be a few years yet until she has the 24 aircraft.
Why the rush anyway?
Does the HMS Queen Elizbeth have conventional Propellor shafts