Royal Navy’s ‘HMS Queen Elizabeth’ under construction

Pictured here is construction of the first of the two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy, HMS Queen Elizabeth, as workers at BAE Systems’ Govan yard moved two giant sections of the hull together for the first time.

The structure is so big that it fills an entire hall at Govan and now extends beyond the doors onto the yard.

It took a team of 20 employees and remote controlled transporters just one hour to move 1,221 tonnes of steel over 100 metres across the shipyard. The hull section was then manoeuvred carefully into position to line up with the rest of the block.

The two sections brought together today form the mid section of the hull up to the hangar deck and is referred to as Lower Block 03. Workers will continue to outfit the block, which on completion will weigh over 9,300 tonnes and stand over 23 metres tall, 63 metres long and 40 metres wide. She is set to embark to Rosyth in the latter part of this year, where HMS Queen Elizabeth will be assembled in the dry dock.

HMS Queen Elizabeth Steps Out Into the Lime Light

Construction of the first of the two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy, HMS Queen Elizabeth, took a huge step forward today as workers at BAE System' Govan yard moved two giant sections of the hull together for the first time.

The structure is so big that it fills an entire hall at Govan and now extends beyond the doors onto the yard, providing a spectacular view from across the River Clyde.

Highlighting the skill and technology involved in British shipbuilding today, it took a team of 20 employees and remote controlled transporters just one hour to move 1,221 tonnes of steel over 100 metres across the shipyard. The hull section was then manoeuvred carefully into position to line up with the rest of the block.

Steven Carroll, Queen Elizabeth Class Project Director at BAE Systems’ Surface Ships division, said: “Seeing the mid section of the carrier come together brings into sharp focus the sheer scale and complexity of this engineering feat.

“With construction underway at six shipyards across the country, it is one of the biggest engineering projects in the UK today – second only to the London 2012 Olympics – and we’re all very proud to be a part of it.”

The two sections brought together today form the mid section of the hull up to the hangar deck and is referred to as Lower Block 03. Workers will now continue to outfit the block, which on completion will weigh over 9,300 tonnes and stand over 23 metres tall, 63 metres long and 40 metres wide. She is set to embark on the next stage of her journey to Rosyth in the latter part of this year, where HMS Queen Elizabeth will be assembled in the dry dock.

As a member of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, BAE Systems is working in partnership with Babcock, Thales and the Ministry of Defence to deliver the nation’s flagships. This huge massive engineering project is rapidly gaining momentum and employs over 8,000 people across shipyards in Glasgow, Portsmouth, Appledore, Rosyth, Merseyside and Newcastle, with thousands more across the supply chain.

Detail and Specification:http://www.defencetalk.com/hms-queen-elizabeth-steps-out-into-the-lime-light-32021/#ixzz1E1IykSGL

Huge sections of the future carrier are joined

IF YOU want an idea of the scale of Britain’s future carriers, this photograph should provide a few clues.

This is one gigantic section of HMS Queen Elizabeth being manoeuvred into the ship hall at BAE Systems’ Govan yard on the Clyde...

...where it was attached to another section to form Lower Block 03 – the mid-section – of the 65,000-tonne leviathan.

It took just an hour to move this segment from one part of the yard to the shed using a series of remote-controlled transporters and a team of 20 workers.

When complete the now joined block will weigh more than 9,300 tonnes. It stands 23 metres tall (75ft) and is 40 metres wide (131ft). And big though this section is, it only goes up to the hangar deck.

“Seeing the mid-section of the carrier come together brings into sharp focus the sheer scale and complexity of this engineering feat,” said Steven Carroll, in charge of the carrier project at BAE Systems.

“It’s one of the biggest engineering projects in the UK today – second only to the 2012 Olympics – and we’re all very proud to be a part of it.”

Six yards across the UK and 8,000 shipwrights, technicians and engineers are building sections of the two carriers, with thousands more people employed in the enormous supply chain providing kit for the ships.

Fitting out of Lower Block 03 is now being carried out before the block is floated around to Rosyth where the Queen Elizabeth is being assembled later this year.