HMS Queen Elizabeth is set to leave Rosyth between 19 and 24 July 2024 after undergoing critical repairs to her starboard propeller shaft coupling.
Temporary flight restrictions have been announced over the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh.
These measures are being implemented to ensure the security and safety of the event, it is understood.
The restrictions, which apply only to unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), come at the request of Police Scotland and are deemed necessary for national defence and security. The restrictions will be in place from 0700 hours on 19 July until 1300 hours on 24 July 2024.
The briefing sheet explains: “Restricted Area (Temporary) is established in the vicinity of the Firth of Forth, Edinburgh between 19 and 24 July 2024 for the movement and sailing of HMS Queen Elizabeth that is due to take place there. Due to the high-profile status of this event and at the request of Police, the Civil Aviation Authority and the Secretary of State for Transport agree that it is necessary to introduce Restriction of Flying Regulations under Article 23 of the Air Navigation Order 2016 for reasons of National Defence and Security.”
These restrictions will not affect manned aircraft. Exemptions will be made for unmanned aircraft operated by Police Scotland or those flying under permission issued by the Police Scotland Aviation Safety and Security Unit.
HMS Queen Elizabeth, a 284-metre-long aircraft carrier, arrived in Rosyth in March this year for crucial repairs on her starboard propeller shaft coupling.
This technical issue had previously forced the ship to withdraw from the NATO exercise Steadfast Defender, resulting in HMS Prince of Wales taking her place.
OK, I’ll start. So if the “Starboard Shaft Coupling” is now repaired, does that mean the Port side one was fine from the start ?
Possibly but they’ve actually gone and replaced both prop shafts I think with an improved design. NL article on it.
Any info re any portion of planned 2025 inspections/upgrades being accomplished while in drydock for starboard shaft coupling repair/replacement? Believe there was an article stating presumed efficiency in bringing selected tasks forward? 😳
They’ve still got to install the Bedford array and do hull inspections next year. But they decided not to do prop shaft work twice. Plus I think they want to deploy Qnlz this year before those so they need it back
👍
Got to give some credit here as it all seems to have been done pretty quickly too! Hopefully they’ve made a couple of spares to keep on the shelves just in case… Lol 😁
Thanks, It did seem the obvious thing to do, I just wondered after seeing the wording in the article above.
we’ll find out when they’re Another breakdown of one of alleged supercarjers the type and it’s issues remind me of the mess that was the type 45 and for the Americans, the LCS.
Great news. Do we have a recent list of how many escorts we have available?
I do hope that the next defence review finds the magic frigate/destroyer tree, we desperately need to get back to 24, ideally 1997 numbers of 32.
I was watching a video of the fearless concept which looked promising it could be a real boost to firepower if type 32 and MRSS are merged into 11 ships of a single class.
5 type 31
11 MRSS (with type 31 warfare systems)
8 Type 26
6 Type 45
Total=30 with ‘escort like’ capabilities.
Two or three T45’s and three T23’s,. For all practical purposes our entire available major warship fleet.
Thanks, however that is pretty dire.
Yes indeed! Good to see QE out of dock, but no rush o get back to pompey, we couldn’t deploy a carrier if we wanted to with just 6 escorts fleetwise and RFA Victoria laid up. sadly she and POW have no real use at present other than to attract extra visitors on harbour boat trips.
You’re welcome. I just wish it was better news for you. 🙂
it’s embarrassing.for a nation which relies on the sea for 80 percent of its imports and exports to be done by sea the UK MUST commit to an escort fleet of 25 minimum by 2030. and stick to it.
2 more T23s in short term maintenance but yes not great
👍Every little helps?
HMS Daring and Dragon were slated for return to the fleet (relatively) soon. Has their projected status changed markedly? Understand HMS Dauntless will not be available until sometime in 2026.
Er…pardon, that would be HMS Defender currently undergoing PIP and CAMM upgrades, not Dauntless. Senior moment. 🙄
As I understand it they are both in long term refit so presumably not going to be available for sometime.
Duncan is deployed, Diamond just returned and will probably start PIP and Camm, Dauntless is available, Dragon has boarded crew and is working towards the end of its PIP refit, Daring later this year, at least that’s the intention, Defender in till 2026 for PIP and Camm
Just going by what I read here a couple of weeks ago but thanks for the info. 👍
fit with, and not for, the equipment they should have.
One hundred per cent. 👍
I don’t see how merging those 2 projects would result in more ships, one is underfunded the other not at all. At best we’ll probably get better armed amphibs though not the 6 we want and probably just with Sea ceptor defences.
It wouldn’t necessarily increase total ship numbers but it would increase the number that are survivable and capable of dealing with attacks.
If we get attacked we are in the shit and that is the basic truth, we are in the shit anyway.
we have been ever since the Falklands war ended and the T22,42,21 classes were sold or retired without replacements in place
Talking of CAMM, any update on the schedule of these getting put onto the upgraded T45s and any “official” possibility of more than just the 24 and or even 1-2 MK41s? Opportunity knocks right now.
HMS Defender is the lead ship to trial them, but Mk41 is unlikely with all the other costly upgrades, more than 24 probably depends on the space available and the launcher they use
Morning Hugo, jeez, there’s got to be room for a few more on a ship that size?Isn’t the gym space up to two MK41s? Why the 6 silo design hasn’t even been compressed into an 8, so for four you can then have 32 (equivalent to one MK41) instead of 24 CAMM? Okay, they’re saving money and hassle now for later but any extra load out could be very useful and even life and asset saving particularly in longer period patrols.
Yeh the dedicated Camm cells are not particularly great, obviously there’s savings to be made on not having to buy the missile stocks or integrate them into mk41 for the T45 but it does seem a shame as they probably won’t change that silo out again after this refit
if we had six then there probably wouldn’t be enough bootnecks to put in them.
Perhaps but in wartime capacity is important, throw some army onboard in an emergency
Could you send me Some of the stuff you smoke? I want a home fleet, Mediterranean fleet and a China station all ready for next month.
Havent been smoking anything🤣. My thoughts don’t represent any increase in what is planned hull numbers wise over the next 10-15 years. I don’t honestly think what I have suggested is infeasible, especialy for a country that spends £50B/year on defence and has the sixth largest economy.
for every new ship we commission a type 23 will go. actual numerical increases could be a decade away.
and a return to Malta, and scapa flow, Portland and Chatham.
There might still be two vessel types for the MRSS (3+3?) but a still, an increase to 30 overall is pretty decent. Not sure how important the rule of three is across all this. Could they also add one on more T26, T31, MRSS? Sorry, just been 🛒… bad habit wanting more… Lol 😁
Isn’t MRSS supposed to achieve only having 1 class of ship for Amphib ops?
I thought I read somewhere that the design of the remaining three hasn’t been confirmed yet but I might have misread it. Maybe it’s just the actual quantity. Three is a start and they’ll all want to be more capable than the current ships.
3 is the confirmed order with I suppose 3 as options or to be built in future, obviously dependent on a number of factors.
Obviously depending on the time between builds they could have several updates but broadly they want to avoid the issue we have now of only a small number of role specific platforms so not enough available. For example only 1 LPD and 1 “LPH” (Argus), while trying to support to amphib groups.
It’ll be interesting to see which design they choose and where there’ll end up building them! Hope it’s all or mostly positive for the UK industry and economy.
Yes build location is the biggest question for me. Especially if the whole H&W deal falls apart. Not alot of large shipbuilding options with the carrier dock reserved for carrier work.
You’d hope the new government will see that the UK gets a lionshare of any shipbuilding work on the MRSS. The first three has been given the okay hasn’t it so there must be some major decisions already made but not public yet? Why can’t they get built at H&W in part or full even shared other sites? The 3-6 ships is quite a big deal and it’d be good to spread economic benefits around if viable.
Maybe there could be another shipbuilding coalition, whether H&W plays a part depends on how they do with FSSS but it’ll probably try to be mostly UK built
I’d rather see another T3.
T3?
thirty one one military spec batch 2 river cheaper than building from scratch and could prove as a model for the existing river fleet.
recommissioning, gunning up echo and enterprise, plus finally the rivers is the only way that the fleet will increase in size. 7 corvettes fitted out with the right kit, would almost put another third onto our numbers with those ships which are ALREADY BUILT. the royal navy and the nation was once renowned for it’s abilities to design build and operate things which are common today, the steam turbine with high pressure steam propulsion,torpedo, the aircraft carrier just for starters.
One of the echos is potentially being sold, the other being considered for harbour training. Not sure there’s much point in upcoming the Rivers, it won’t allow them to do much more than they already do
and an end to the ridiculous mother ship and cable gawping ships.
Good to have her back in the fleet. I suppose that before she returns to Portsmouth she will undergo testing. I have wondered if the issues with the prop shafts might be made worse by the twin shaft layout and not a 4 shaft layout. The amount of torque going through twin shafts must be huge. I think the QE’s must be about the biggest warships in the world with twin shafts. It does however make the gearbox a bit more simple.
I have noticed several comments about the state of our fleet, all I can say is I agree.
First the T45s, we all agree that it is taking to long to sort out the powerplant issues. Some of the class have been laid up almost as long as they have been operational and as we have only six of these important vessels it is just not good enough. Where we would all have liked to see the Mk41 blocks installed I do think that the extra 24 CAAMs and hopefully NSM will give these ships some extra teeth.
It does seem to me to be a 1930’s moment all over again. The world is not a friendly place at the moment. Some nations are arming and or getting combat experiance whilst Europe is having a peace in our time thinking. With the possibility of the US pulling back from Europe does Europe have 5-7 years to re-arm? Even now the UK is going to have a defence review that will take about a year, then a further six months to look at it, speak about it etc then decide what to do about it, two years of a five year term has gone by. Thay leaves three years for the government to implement something before the next election.
I keep thinking that defence needs need to be put on a ten year investment plan, just so that they know what is the minimum that they will get and work accordingly. I also think that defence should work in a diffrent way, government should say what are the tasks, the services should tell government the minimum that is needed for the task. As an example Air Defence UK needs x squadrons of aircraft, x squadrons of ASW aircraft and x batteries of GBAD. Tilt to Indo-Pacific needs a carrier group, an amphibious group, RFA vessels and a few SSNs. Whilst defence of the Atlantic and Norway needs a carrier group, a few amphibious groups, more SSNs. So if the RAF says right we have enough for air defence UK then what is left can go for overseas operations, or the RN says we have enough for the Atlantic/Norway but not the Pacific then it if for government to decide do they get more or do they reduce the demands.
She not leaving she needs a 6.0 to a 6.2 to get out of the dock any lower than a 6.0 she will hit the dock lip ,so tides the now far to low for her to get in and out as from now until the 24th tides remain around 5.2 to 5.8