HMS Queen Elizabeth

[Marty63]

Wow, she's a biggin

[Cyder]

Awesome, good job we've got a load of harriers and toys to fly off it.

Ah wait.

[Godalmighty83]

Or at least will be a biggun, not quite that far into build yet.

Lots of pics of the bits here- http://www.flickr.com/photos/qeclasscarriers/

Many of the superblocks are built up and many parts are ready to be welded together so the ship should start taking shape now quite quickly. I don't think a harrier pilot would know what to do with all that room and a ship big enough to iron out the waves.

[davepoth]

Godalmighty83 said:

Or at least will be a biggun, not quite that far into build yet.

Lots of pics of the bits here- http://www.flickr.com/photos/qeclasscarriers/

Many of the superblocks are built up and many parts are ready to be welded together so the ship should start taking shape now quite quickly. I don't think a harrier pilot would know what to do with all that room and a ship big enough to iron out the waves.

I reckon a harrier would probably be small enough to fly directly into the hangar, judging by the size of that lift. Maybe you could get some bonus points for that.

[Simpo Two]

Blimey, that's wide. Taking off and landing side by side? I see the traditional angled strip has gone.

[Fishtigua]

We made all the escape hatches and hull doors over here in Guernsey. Fabricated, painted and shipped over as units to weld into which ever end was built in each yard. Shame they forgot how to launch the Sopworths in the design.

[davepoth]

Simpo Two said:

Blimey, that's wide. Taking off and landing side by side? I see the traditional angled strip has gone.

No need for it if you aren't landing horizontally I suppose.

[phumy]

Traditionally lifts have always been accomodated on the port side or centre of the ship, its good to see theyve started to use the starb`d (redundant to flight ops) side, to keep flying in all conditions.

I still cant see how they can flood that dry dock and get her out

[Godalmighty83]

Simpo Two said:

Blimey, that's wide. Taking off and landing side by side? I see the traditional angled strip has gone.

In theory a wider deck will allow it to carry out a lot of landing and take off operations at the same time at a faster rate, although in reality I cant see much of it being used especially in peace time due to the risks of multiple aircraft and down-washes at the same time. Iam not sure if a official launch rate has been mentioned but if memory serves the invincibles always struggled getting a reasonable wing in the air in short order due to a lack of room to prep and get the aircraft ready for launch, with a bit of luck the massive increase in room will allow a lot more a lot faster.

[Gazzas86]

Gutted i wont ever get to serve on one!, done my time on illustrious and that was big for me.

[Davie]

Obviously somebody will have checked... but that's a big bugger and there's the small matter of the Forth Bridge. The old carriers had to drop their masts/aerial/sky dics even at low tide (or so I was told) so I can only assume they'll have to fit a few of the higher bits after it passes under or perhaps flood the ballast tanks? Of is she deceptively low, if incredibly wide?

[bobbylondonuk]

How does she compare with the big US carriers?

[rhinochopig]

Such a shame that we no longer have a domestic moth-ball manufacturing capability big enough for her. We'll have to buy them in from the Indians. Damn defence cuts.

[LukeSi]

bobbylondonuk said:

How does she compare with the big US carriers?

[anonymous-user]

Amazing how many more aircraft the Nimitz class carries.

[dirkgently]

el stovey said:

Amazing how many more aircraft the Nimitz class carries.

About 90 more in the current climate

[Simpo Two]

We could have gone over and nicked the French one for nothing.

[AshVX220]

Davie said:

Obviously somebody will have checked... but that's a big bugger and there's the small matter of the Forth Bridge. The old carriers had to drop their masts/aerial/sky dics even at low tide (or so I was told) so I can only assume they'll have to fit a few of the higher bits after it passes under or perhaps flood the ballast tanks? Of is she deceptively low, if incredibly wide?

The only part of the ship which is a problem is the "Pole-Mast", which is located on the forward edge of the aft Island. This has been designed with a hinge mechanism, so it can be folded whenever the ship needs to come under the bridge.

[phumy]

doogz said:

phumy said:

Traditionally lifts have always been accomodated on the port side or centre of the ship, its good to see theyve started to use the starb`d (redundant to flight ops) side, to keep flying in all conditions.

I still cant see how they can flood that dry dock and get her out

Have they? Nimitz, Enterprise, Kitty Hawk, all had lifts on the stbd side, forward and aft of the island/islands, as will the new Fords.

Since when has the Nimitz, Enterprise, Kitty Hawk been part of the traditional British aircraft carrier fleet?

Anyway the starbd lifts on the septic carriers are for the ice cream vans, coke machines and burger vans, not aircraft.

[AshVX220]

phumy said:

doogz said:

phumy said:

Traditionally lifts have always been accomodated on the port side or centre of the ship, its good to see theyve started to use the starb`d (redundant to flight ops) side, to keep flying in all conditions.

I still cant see how they can flood that dry dock and get her out

Have they? Nimitz, Enterprise, Kitty Hawk, all had lifts on the stbd side, forward and aft of the island/islands, as will the new Fords.

Since when has the Nimitz, Enterprise, Kitty Hawk been part of the traditional British aircraft carrier fleet?

Anyway the starbd lifts on the septic carriers are for the ice cream vans, coke machines and burger vans, not aircraft.

Ah, you didn't specify British!
They could put a whole MCD's restraunt on the lifts on QEC! Each lift can take two JCA, which is a bigger airframe than a Harrier to start with, I [u]think[/u] they can also take a Chinook un-folded.