After inspections uncovered a defect with her starboard propeller shaft coupling, the decision was made for HMS Queen Elizabeth to head to Rosyth for repair work.

According to a statement by Minister of State, Ministry of Defence, The Earl of Minto:

“My Lords, the Royal Navy continues to meet its operational commitments, both at home and abroad. Having two aircraft carriers means that HMS “Prince of Wales” has quickly prepared to deploy in place of HMS “Queen Elizabeth”. She has sailed from Portsmouth this afternoon to join the NATO exercise Steadfast Defender.

Following initial investigations, HMS “Queen Elizabeth” will be required to sail for Rosyth in Scotland to undergo repairs for an issue with her starboard propeller shaft coupling, which will be carried out in due course. Her issue is not the same as that experienced by HMS “Prince of Wales” back in 2022.”

HMS Queen Elizabeth had been expected to depart from Portsmouth Naval Base for Exercise Steadfast Defender involving more than 40 vessels off the coast of Norway but was replaced by HMS Prince of Wales.

Lisa West
Lisa West
Lisa has a degree in Media & Communication from Glasgow Caledonian University and works with industry news, sifting through press releases in addition to moderating website comments.

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102 COMMENTS

  1. What ?….. She’s actually still in Port….. no signs of life…. not actually even awake…… how can she be currently heading to Scotland ????? i’m really confused by this Article to be honest…..

    • ‘She’s actually still in Port….. no signs of life…. not actually even awake……’

      Well, she is in Port and she IS actually awake, with a crew onboard, and she’ll soon be heading to Scotland for repairs. Does this answer your question?

      • No mate …. The article says she is heading for Scotland….. she;s not though….. Shes clearly still in Pompey…… Your point is ?

          • How do I keep tabs on where she is at any time? Is there an app? I ask because I’d like to take my kids to the Forth road bridge to see it.

          • You have a White Ensign as your profile pic. That could indicate that you are either currently serving in the RN or you have left at some point. Or you are one of those annoying armchair Admiral civvies that comment without engaging the Mk1 brain first. I hope it is the former. Either way, you should know better than to type like a four year old..

        • You have misread the article as the main subject is The Prince of Wales which has sailed for Scotland. QE2 is the sub subject and is mentioned in another paragraph of the item.

        • I think you are taking it too literally, for that phrase can also mean that she ‘will be heading to Scotland for repairs shortly’. The English language is a little flexible in that way, rightly or wrongly.

    • I’m heading to Northumberland.
      Currently sitting in my home watching TV but that doesn’t mean that I’m not heading to Northumberland at some point.

    • Article didn’t say that she’s currently in transit, just that she’s heading to Scotland, which she will be. When she is.

      • Exactly, I can understand those where English isn’t their first language being confused by that phrase, but when it is I really don’t get it, it’s used all the time in the sense of it being imminent mixed with confirming that is what the plan is. Anyway why make such a fuss over such a trivial matter when we all know what it means just the timing is at issue,

    • ” Heading to” can mean “is travelling to” or “will soon be traveling to” as in

      Wife : “I’m heading to the airport”.

      Husband : “Have a safe journey”.

      Wife : Leaves house, closed door behind her and starts to head to the airport.

      Stop looking for faults that aren’t there.

      Read the article it is plain that she is about to go and not currently going.

    • They forgot to transfer the F-35s over judging by the attached picture. Let’s hope she arrives before POW leaves!

      Can you imagine the uproar on here with the naysayers slating the lack of available aircraft onboard for the deployment 😂

    • It is a headline not a sentence…it was missing the verb needed to make it a sentence and actually describe what the ship was doing or not doing.
      ….or so my 10 year old has told me 🤣😂🤣…..21c children and their prissy middle class education…in my day ( the 1970s) we had proper education…which had given up on stupid things like grammar and was more focused on soldering and making wooden tables.

      • Hello Jonathan. I hope you are well squire. I would not diminish the value of practical education at all, but English is a rich language partly because it is open to change but also because some rules are important. We don’t want to end up like our American cousins, talking about a bunch of stuff or their frequent use of the double negative to completely destroy the intended meaning.
        We don’t need no education? 🙂
        Cheers from a frightfully humid Durban in the Colony of Natal

  2. Perhaps it means ‘going to be heading….’. Towed or otherwise! Those propellers and drive train seem to be a bit of an achilles heel.

          • Materials science or maintenance issue? Does corrosion in one coupling portend corrosion in any/all prop shaft couplings on both carriers? If corrosion developed increased in a linear fashion from 2017 to 2924 could replacement become a preventative maintenance procedure w/ every scheduled refit? Propulsion issues would seem to be reasonably important for a warship, rather like the Daring class. 🤔

          • That repair was taken underwater from recollection? If it is corrosion then perhaps a failure of the gland seals or the external joints? Since it seems not to be a shaft issue perhaps the structure of the props themselves?

    • Nonsense. They are exceptional Carriers, and, as this is still in the very early stages in their service lives, teething problems can happen. You forget that HMS Queen Elizabeth has already deployed for seven months in 2021 very successfully and has been very active since 2017! ⚓

      • Totally agree , well needed ships too
        The french carrier has been back in dry dock again needing boilers replacing , it also had propeller problems when first put in service , she spent 2 years in dry dock back in 2016 , needing work doing on it nuclear systems ,
        This ship has had a very troubled life ,
        And rarely goes fare now , mainly staying in the med when it works ,
        Big lizzy already done more in its short life

      • Useless concept to build non nuclear powered ships. Take out the supply ships and you are dead in the water.
        Teething problems with propshafts buried deep in a vessel shouid never happen. Major QA/QC failure. Inexcusable work by complacent and corrupt contractors.

      • Where does ‘nonsense’ come from? Did I say anything about exceptionability? Did I make accusations about failures or anything? All systems have bits that wear out and need maintenance. Of course they do, I was merely musing about possible causes or points of failure. Nothing to do with ‘nonsense’! Though the fact that QE has propellor problems is rather odd since these are supposedly relatively standard items for large ships. Once is not unreasonable but twice?

  3. This is an out rage. What am I paying my taxe’s for. I hope there shall be an enquiry into this fiasco. Billions and billions down the drain. A shambolic embarrassment

  4. This wouldn’t have happened had we invested correctly and had ship builders that were proud of their workmanship! Imagine if this had happened during the Falklands conflict, we’d be a laughing stock and Margaret Thatcher would have been weal-ding her sword at the persons responsible!

  5. I’ve noticed that any comments on the efficacy and readiness of RN ships are being redacted on this medium.
    The British public cannot be fooled when multi billion pound products of our shipyards spend so much time in port for remedial work.

      • They can’t due to the fundamental and irreversible limitation Rosyth has.
        We are saddled with Rosyth and access is dictated by the Tides Exroyal is 100% correct in what he says it’s just the plain truth.
        To get a QE into Rosyth it’s like threading through a movable eye of a needle and it’s all dictate by the lunar tides. It’s very tight to get then in under even the best of conditions and you need the lowest possible tide to get under the 3 Bridges and then the Maximum High Tide to get over the Dock lip and into the Basin and Drydock.

        Those conditions last for 3/4 days per lunar month and expire today, next period is 10 to 14 of March with the best of all being on the 11th. Lovely thing Tide tables they let you know exactly when they can do it.

        Its the biggest fundamental flaw with the QE carriers no Drydock is available in the U.K. that has the facilities, size and 24/7/365 access.

        If you go onto Navy Lookout and search Queen Elizabeth Drydock there’s a great report on it all. Roll on H&W getting up to speed.

        • The other factor which cannot be predicted of course, at least not this far out is wind speed. So the tides may align but if the wind blows you could be waiting another month.

  8. Are the shafts out of alignment that’s the major question.ive never liked the idea of a ship being built in different yards,then assembled like a jigsaw puzzle

    • Even if it’s was assembled in the same yard it would be built in bits like a jigsaw puzzle.

      I don’t think anyone has laid a keel for a ship and built it up since the 70’s.

  9. Why these two haven’t been built with pods which would have saved vibrations of shafts, done away with rudders and give higher mobility

  11. Is there a problem with such a large ship relying on 2 shaft propulsion? The CdG, also with two shaft arrangement, had had propeller problems. US carriers all have 4 shaft propulsion.

    • Twice as many couplings to go wrong for the US then?
      In this instance, since she won’t be making any sprints to land aircraft, they will just run with the single shaft. She already has twice as many as most general merchant vessels. Many supertankers only have a single shaft and they are far bigger, they just go far slower.

      • I did search for reports of propulsion coupling issues in other carriers but couldn’t find anything. I do know it took a long time to clear twin engined passenger jets to undertake long over ocean flights. Four engines were seen as necessary to provide safety margins in case of a failure.
        Obviously not a direct safety issue with warships but the failure of a single coupling renders the vessel incapable of full operations.

        • Clearance of twin aircraft ( EROPS which became ETOPS) was not only a matter of technical reliability. It was a combined Tech/Ops matter and I believe Monarch were the first UK Operator to be cleared Transatlantic. Apologies for thread drift, but I was there’.

        • The propeller shaft and intermediate shaft are connected by a hydraulic clamp coupling instead of conventional flanges – its basically two tapered sleeves that slide over ech other and the outer one crushes the inner one onto the two shafts and clamps them together and of course transmits the rotational power. Being a torque transmitter it will be checked periodically for any movement/corrosion or any sign that the clamping force may not be maintained. I would expect that to replace it you have to pull the propeller and propeller shaft backwards to uninstall the coupling and take it apart – hence heading back to dock. I would imagine it’s still capable of working ok, just that thye have seen something that would be better off having it apart and checking it rather than leaving it and then worry about it letting go at a later date.

      • Us carriers must be better built
        They spend much if their time working at sea projecting power.
        Our 2 so called carriers cost twice as much, spend most of their time in harbour and and more than half of that in a dry Dock for repairs.
        It was mad to build them down to a cheap?price and DIESEL POWERED which requires refuelling at least weekly requiring at least 2 refuelling ships following them whereas nusclar powered ships run for years without refuelling.
        And no refuelling ships escorting them.
        We have not had a navy since Margaret Thatchers time.
        We could not protect the Falklands under Sunak EVER.

      • It’s not just the power being transmitted but the torque. The QE’s are driven by Electric Motors not Geared Stram Turbines.

  14. Is there anymore news on the report that the Australian navy are going to buy 16 Hunter Class Frigates, 8 standard anti-submarine warfare variants and 8 up-gunned variants

    • Last I heard there was talk of purchasing less. All speculation I think. Until the design is sorted out and the build is progressing along I don’t think a decision on some further modified variants to enter service in the coming decades is needed quickly.
      If it turns out it’s a good ship that still meets the requirements of 20 years time then it’s a good idea to stick with it.
      Now where is the U.K. announcement of a further batch of 8 ships. Dreaming😂😂

  15. Oh give it a couple more years and the home office will be trying to convert the Aircraft carriers to cross Channel migrant ferries. Whilst they carry out repairs will they be painting the deck in a nice rainbow colour to tick a diversity box.

  16. On a point of nitpicking, I was wondering why the Earl of Minto found it necessary to enclose the names of the two carriers in inverted commas?

  18. We new QE was comming back to the port of Rosyth ,6 weeks ago when they started dredging
    the channel in it only time it gets done, we also know that it exactly the same problem the POW had with its couplings corrosion .can this Government ever tell the truth that when the hulls where laid the engines where miss aligned and constantly leaking.stop the b/s evry dock yard worker knows the truth you imberceils

    • Sorry to call you out but as the QE is electric powered and the generators are deliberately sited elsewhere you my friend are talking absolute cobblers.

      Miss aligned engines ! They are connected by HV cables via Switch rooms and could be mounted upside down for all the difference it would make.

      The main engines are RR MT 30 Gas Turbines and mounted in the sponsons under the twin islands, the MTU DG sets are right down in the hull.

      You plainly know absolutely nothing about how they work. Oh and FYI as Babcock have a contract to maintain the QE’s at Rosyth the dredging is done as a matter of course,

  19. To be honest here, I’m not really shore why some folk are getting a bit aggy about spellin, gramarr and stuff, and weather the QE boat thang has sailed to sidi barrani or wherever yet.

    I fought that the real issue was, yet more trouble with bits on British carriers nausing up, having to be replaced, and having to travel a long ways away, to get things fixed.

    Don’t they have Parcelforce in Scottish Land?

  21. Westminster incompetence has to be fixed by the best marine engineers in the world. Scotland the one in front ( 1st )
    You know the Story never trust a tory
    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Lang Mae Yer Lum Reek 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

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