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File:QE class carrier.jpg
Artistic depiction of the Queen Elizabeth-class CATOBAR design
Class overview
NameQueen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier
Builderslist error: <br /> list (help)
BAE Systems Surface Ships
Thales Group
Babcock Marine
Operators Royal Navy
Preceded byInvincible class
In servicelist error: <br /> list (help)
2016 (HMS Queen Elizabeth)
2018 (HMS Prince of Wales)
Planned2
Building2
Completed0
General characteristics
TypeAircraft carrier
Displacement65,000 t (64,000 long tons)
Length280 m (920 ft)
Beamlist error: <br /> list (help)
39 m (128 ft) (waterline)
70 m (230 ft) overall
Draught11 m (36 ft)
Decks16,000 m2 (170,000 sq ft)
SpeedIn excess of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)
Range10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi)
Complementlist error: <br /> list (help)
679 ships crew
1,600 with air element
Sensors and
processing systems
  • S1850M long range radar
  • Artisan 3D maritime medium range radar
  • Ultra Electronics Series 2500 Electro Optical System (EOS)
  • Glide Path Camera (GPC)
Armament
Aircraft carriedlist error: mixed text and list (help)
Tailored air group of up to 40 aircraft:
Aviation facilities
  • Large angled flight deck
  • Hangar deck
  • Two aircraft lifts

The Queen Elizabeth-class supercarriers (formerly the CV Future or CVF project) are a class of two aircraft carriers being built for the Royal Navy. HMS Queen Elizabeth is expected to enter service in 2016 and HMS Prince of Wales in 2018.

Under the currently published plans, the Royal Navy will need to operate only one aircraft carrier, routinely equipped with 12 fast jets. The other carrier is planned to be held in extended readiness. These plans will be reviewed in 2015.[1][2]

The contract for the vessels was announced on 25 July 2007 by then Secretary of State for Defence Des Browne, ending several years of delay over cost issues and British naval shipbuilding restructuring; the cost was initially estimated to be £3.9 billion. The contracts were officially signed one year later on 3 July 2008 after the creation of BVT Surface Fleet through the merger of BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions and VT Group's VT Shipbuilding which was a requirement of the UK Government.

The vessels will displace about 65,000 metric tons (64,000 long tons), be 280 metres (920 ft) long and have a tailored air group of up to forty aircraft. They will be the largest warships ever to be constructed for the Royal Navy.

Originally planned as Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) carriers deploying the Lockheed Martin F-35B, in 2010 the British government decided instead to purchase the F-35C carrier version of this aircraft. Present plans are for Prince of Wales to be built to a Catapult Assisted Take Off Barrier Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) configuration. As of March 2012, there are no published plans to convert Queen Elizabeth to the same design.

Background

Strategic Defence Review

In May 1997, the newly elected Labour government launched the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) which re-evaluated every weapon system (active or in procurement) with the exception of the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines. The report, published in July 1998 identified that aircraft carriers offered the following:[3]

  • Ability to operate offensive aircraft abroad when foreign basing may be denied.
  • All required space and infrastructure; where foreign bases are available they are not always available early in a conflict and infrastructure is often lacking.
  • A coercive and deterrent effect when deployed to a trouble spot.

The report concluded: "the emphasis is now on increased offensive air power, and an ability to operate the largest possible range of aircraft in the widest possible range of roles. When the current carrier force reaches the end of its planned life, we plan to replace it with two larger vessels. Work will now begin to refine our requirements but present thinking suggests that they might be of the order of 30,000–40,000 tonnes and capable of deploying up to fifty aircraft, including helicopters."[3]

Design studies

The vessels, described as "supercarriers" in the media,[4] will displace approximately 65,000 t (64,000 long tons) each, over three times the displacement of the current Invincible class. They will be the largest warships ever built in the United Kingdom (UK).[5] The last large carriers proposed for the Royal Navy, the CVA-01 programme, had been cancelled by the Labour government in 1966.[6] Giving evidence to the House of Commons Defence Committee, the then First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Alan West explained that the sortie rate and interoperability with the United States Navy was a factor in deciding of the size of the carriers and the composition of the carrier's air-wing:

The Queen Elizabeth class carriers will be closer in size to a Nimitz-class carrier (left) than the Invincible-class ships they replace (right)

The reason that we have arrived at what we have arrived at is because to do the initial strike package, that deep strike package, we have done really quite detailed calculations and we have come out with the figure of 36 joint strike fighters, and that is what has driven the size of it, and that is to be able to deliver the weight of effort that you need for these operations that we are planning in the future. That is the thing that has made us arrive at that size of deck and that size of ship, to enable that to happen. I think it is something like 75 sorties per day over the five-day period or something like that as well.[7]

I have talked with the CNO (Chief of Naval Operations) in America. He is very keen for us to get these because he sees us slotting in with his carrier groups. For example, in Afghanistan last year they had to call on the French to bail them out with their carrier. He really wants us to have these, but he wants us to have same sort of clout as one of their carriers, which is this figure at 36. He would find that very useful, and really we would mix and match with that.[8]

On 25 January 1999, six companies were invited to tender for the assessment phase of the project – Boeing, British Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Marconi Electronic Systems, Raytheon and Thomson-CSF.[9] On 23 November 1999, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) awarded detailed assessment studies to two consortia, one led by BAe (renamed BAE Systems on 30 November 1999) and one led by Thomson-CSF (renamed Thales Group in 2000). The brief required up to six designs from each consortium with air-groups of thirty to forty Future Joint Combat Aircraft (FJCA). The contracts were split into phases; the first £5.9 million phase was for design assessment which would form part of the aircraft selection, while the second £23.5 million phase involved "risk reduction on the preferred carrier design option."[10]

Aircraft and carrier format selection

The original STOVL version of CVF

On 17 January 2001, the UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States Department of Defense (DoD) for full participation in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme, confirming the JSF as the FJCA.[11] This gave the UK input into aircraft design and the choice between the Lockheed Martin X-35 and Boeing X-32. On 26 October 2001, the DoD announced that Lockheed Martin had won the JSF contract.[12]

On 30 September 2002, the MoD announced that the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force would operate the STOVL F-35B variant. Also announced was that the carriers would take the form of large, conventional carriers, initially adapted for STOVL operations. The carriers, expected to remain in service for fifty years, were designed for but not with catapults and arrestor wires. The carriers were thus planned to be "future proof", allowing them to operate a generation of CATOBAR aircraft beyond the F-35. Four months later on 30 January 2003, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon announced that the Thales Group design had won the competition but that BAE Systems would operate as prime contractor.[13]

The contract for the vessels was announced on 25 July 2007 by then Secretary of State for Defence Des Browne, ending several years of delay over cost issues and British naval shipbuilding restructuring;[14] the cost was initially estimated to be £3.9 billion.[15] The contracts were officially signed one year later on 3 July 2008 after the creation of BVT Surface Fleet through the merger of BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions and VT Group's VT Shipbuilding which was a requirement of the UK Government.[16]

Then in August 2009, speculation mounted that the UK would drop the F-35B for the F-35C model, which would mean the carriers being built to operate conventional take off and landing aircraft using the US-designed Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapults.[17][18]

File:HMS Queen Elizabeth class port.png
Impression of CATOBAR ship from port, displaying the three aircraft arrestor wires, F-35Cs and a Merlin helicopter on deck

Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010

On 19 October 2010, the government announced the results of its Strategic Defence and Security Review. Only one carrier is certain to be commissioned; the fate of the other is undecided. The second ship of the class may be placed in "extended readiness" to provide a continuous single carrier strike capability when the other is in refit or to provide the option to regenerate more quickly a two carrier strike ability. Alternatively the second ship may be sold with "cooperation with a close ally to provide continuous carrier-strike capability".[2]

It was also announced that the operational carrier will have catapult and arrestor gear (CATOBAR) installed to accommodate the carrier variant of the Joint Strike Fighter rather than the short-take off and vertical-landing version.[19][20] The decision to convert Prince of Wales to CATOBAR is pending review by the Government's Major Project Review Group.[21] Present plans are to have six F-35C operating from the active carrier by 2020, rising to twelve aircraft by 2023.[22]

Design

General characteristics

The ships' company is 679 rising to 1,600 with air element added.[23] At full displacement they weigh 65,000 metric tons (64,000 long tons), have an overall length of 280 metres (920 ft), a width at deck level of 70 metres (230 ft), a height of 56 metres (184 ft), a draught of 11 metres (36 ft) and a range of 10,000 nautical miles (12,000 mi; 19,000 km).[24] With a top speed of 25 knots (46 km/h), power is supplied by two Rolls-Royce Marine Trent MT30 36 MW (48,000 hp) gas turbine generator units and four Wärtsilä diesel generator sets (two 9 MW (12,000 hp) and two 11 MW (15,000 hp) sets).[25] The Trents and diesels are the largest ever supplied to the Royal Navy, and together they feed the low-voltage system that supplies the two tandem electric propulsion motors that drive the twin shafts, fixed-pitch propellers.[26]

On the flight deck, the equivalent in size of three football pitches, are two small islands instead of a traditional large single island. The forward island is for controlling the ship's functions, while the aft island is for flying control.[26] Under the flight deck are a further nine decks.[27] The hangar deck measures 155 by 33.5 metres (509 by 110 ft) with a height of 6.7 to 10 metres (22 to 33 ft), large enough to accommodate up to twenty fixed and rotary wing aircraft.[26] To transfer aircraft from the hangar to the flight deck, the ships have two large lifts, each of which are capable of lifting two F-35 sized aircraft from the hangar to the flight deck in sixty seconds.[25] The ships' only self defence are the Phalanx CIWS for airborne threats, with miniguns and 30 mm cannons to counter seaborne threats.[25]

File:HMS Quen Elizabeth class carrier starboard.png
Impression of ship from starboard rear, F-35Cs and a Merlin helicopter on deck

Systems

The ship's radars will be the BAE Systems S1850M, the same as fitted to the Type 45 destroyers, for long range wide area search, and the BAE Systems Artisan 3D maritime medium-range radar and a navigation radar.[28] BAE claims the S1850M has a fully automatic detection and track initiation that can track up to 1,000 air targets at a range of around 400 kilometres (250 mi).[29] Artisan can "track a target the size of a snooker ball over 20 kilometres (12 mi) away". This system will also be fitted to Type 23 frigates, the assault ships HMS Albion, HMS Bulwark and HMS Ocean.[30] They will also be fitted with the Ultra Electronics Series 2500 Electro Optical System (EOS) and Glide Path Camera (GPC) [31]

Munitions and ammunition handling is accomplished using a highly mechanised weapons handling system (HMWHS). This is a first naval application of a common land based warehouse system. The HMWHS moves palletised munitions from the magazines and weapon preparation areas, along track ways and via several lifts, forward and aft or port and starboard. The tracks can carry a pallet to magazines, the hangar, weapons preparation areas, and the flight deck. In a change from normal procedures the magazines are unmanned, the movement of pallets is controlled from a central location, and manpower is only required when munitions are being initially stored or prepared for use. This system speeds up delivery, and reduces the size of the crew by automation.[32]

Crew facilities

Crew facilities will include a cinema, physical fitness areas and four galleys manned by sixty-seven catering staff. There are four large dining areas, the largest with the capacity to serve 960 meals in one hour. There are eleven medical staff for the eight bed medical facility, which includes an operating theatre and a dental surgery.[23]

Carrier air group

Lockheed F-35C variant selected for the Queen Elizabeth class

The vessels are expected to be capable of carrying forty aircraft, a maximum of thirty-six F-35s and four helicopters.[33] Instead of all naval aircraft, depending on the mission a mixture of aircraft could be carried, including up to twelve Royal Air Force Chinook and eight British Army Apache helicopters.[2]

F-35C

Main article: F-35 Lightning II

With the retirement of the Harrier GR7/9 in 2010, there are no carrier-capable fixed-wing aircraft available in the Royal Navy or Royal Air Force.[34] Their expected replacement is the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.[35]

The ships were originally intended to carry the STOVL version, the F-35B. However, on 19 October 2010, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the UK would change their order to the F-35C carrier variant and that the ships would be modified to use a CATOBAR system to allow for the launch and recovery of these aircraft. The cheaper F-35C variant has a greater range and can carry a larger and more diverse payload than the F-35B.[20] The aircraft will be flown by pilots from the Fleet Air Arm and the Royal Air Force.[36]

AgustaWestland Merlin or AW101

Merlin

Main article: AgustaWestland AW101

The AgustaWestland AW101, or Merlin, is a medium-sized multi-role helicopter. Two versions are in service with the UK armed forces: a utility version, that can carry up to thirty-eight troops or sixteen stretcher patients, and a dedicated anti-submarine warfare variant, with a dipping sonar and sonar-buoys, and a complete electronic warfare suite.[37]

Both versions use a common airframe, with three Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 engines, their range and endurance using only a two engine cruise option, is 750 nautical miles (1,390 km; 860 mi), or six hours. However, range can be extended further when the five underfloor fuel tanks are supplemented with auxiliary fuel tanks fitted in the cabin. Armament depends on mission, but includes anti-ship missiles, torpedoes, three door mounted machine guns, multi-purpose rocket, cannon pods, air to air missiles and air to surface missiles.[37]

AgustaWestland Lynx Wildcat AH1

Wildcat

Main article: AgustaWestland AW159

The AgustaWestland Lynx Wildcat, is scheduled to enter service with the Royal Navy in 2015.[38] The Wildcat can be equipped with several mission sensors, which can include: radar, active dipping sonar, electro-optical imaging, electronic surveillance measures and an integrated self defence suite. The maritime version can be armed with air to surface missiles, torpedoes, depth charges, cannons and heavy machine guns. The aircraft has a maximum range of 520 nautical miles (960 km; 600 mi) and an endurance of four and a half hours.[39]

Airborne early warning and control

The need for a new airborne early warning and control (AEW) platform was identified at an early stage and was an integral part of the next-generation aircraft carrier, and the future carrier-borne aircraft plans.[40] The programme became known as the "Future Organic Airborne Early Warning" (FOAEW), and contracts were placed with BAE / Northrop Grumman and Thales in April 2001.[41] In April 2002, BAE and Northrop Grumman received a follow-on study contract for Phase II of the project, by then renamed Maritime Airborne Surveillance and Control (MASC).[42]

Royal Navy Sea King AEW2A helicopter

In September 2005, the MASC assessment phase for an AEW aircraft to succeed the Sea King ASaC7 helicopter began. By May 2006, three study contracts were awarded for MASC platform and mission systems options: one to Lockheed Martin UK for a Merlin helicopter fitted with AEW mission systems, another to AgustaWestland who plan to maintain the present Sea King ASaC7 to 2017 and finally to Thales UK to upgrade the Sea King's mission systems.[26]

However, it has been suggested that when the Sea Kings are retired, and with the change to a CATOBAR configuration, the MASC role could be undertaken by the V-22 Osprey or the E-2 Hawkeye, which have a greater speed and range and a more powerful radar than a helicopter-based system.[43] As the Hawkeye is the naval AEW system used by the United States and France, it would provide a common platform and enable cross-deck interoperability between the three navies.[44]

Construction

During a speech on 21 July 2004, Geoff Hoon announced a one-year delay to allow contractual and cost issues to be resolved. The building of the carriers was confirmed in December 2005. The building is being undertaken by four companies across seven shipyards, with final block integration and assembly at Rosyth:

Construction cranes viewed from across the firth

In December 2007, eight diesel engines and electricity generators, four for each ship were ordered from Wärtsilä.[45] On 4 March 2008, contracts for the supply of 80,000 tonnes of steel were awarded to Corus Group,[26] with an estimated value of £65 million. Other contracts included £3 million for fibre optic cable, over £1 million for reverse osmosis equipment to provide over 500 tonnes of fresh water daily, and £4 million for aviation fuel systems.[46] On 3 April 2008 a contract for the manufacture of aircraft lifts (worth £13m) was awarded to MacTaggart Scott of Loanhead, Scotland.[47]

In mid May 2008, the Treasury announced that it would be making available further funds on top of the regular defence budget, reportedly allowing the construction of the carriers to begin.[48] This was followed, on 20 May 2008, by the government giving the "green light" for construction of the Queen Elizabeth class, stating that it was ready to sign the contracts for full production once the creation of the planned shipbuilding joint venture between BAE Systems and the VT Group had taken place.[49] This joint venture, BVT Surface Fleet, became operational on 1 July 2008.[50] VT Group later sold its share to BAE Systems which renamed the unit BAE Systems Surface Ships. It will undertake approximately forty per cent of the project workload.[26]

On 1 September 2008, the MoD announced a £51 million package of important equipment contracts; £34 million for the highly mechanised weapons handling system for the two ships, £8 million for supply of uptake and down-take systems for both ships, £5 million for air traffic control software, £3 million for supply of pumps and associated systems engineering, and £1 million for emergency diesel generators.[51] On 6 October 2008, it was announced that contracts had been placed for "the carriers' Rolls-Royce gas turbines, generators, motors, power distribution equipment, platform management systems, propellers, shafts, steering gear, rudders and stabilisers".[52]

The construction of the two carriers is involving more than 10,000 people from ninety British companies, only 7,000 of them are employed in the six shipyards building the ships sections.[53]

Queen Elizabeth

Main article: HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08)
Lower section of Lower Block 1 (Bulbous bow) of HMS Queen Elizabeth at Rosyth

The first steel cut for the project, in July 2009, signalled the start of construction of Lower Block 3 at BAE Systems Clyde, where production of Lower Block 4 started in January 2010.[54] Meanwhile, construction of the bow Lower Block 1 was carried out at Appledore, North Devon, and was completed in March 2010.[55] When the four lower blocks are completed they will be transported to Rosyth to be assembled.[56]

On 25 January 2010, it was announced that the Cammell Laird shipyard has secured a £44 million contract to build the flight decks of the carriers.[57] That same day, construction began in Portsmouth of Lower Block 2 for Queen Elizabeth. The structure will house machinery spaces, stores, switchboards and some of the ship's accommodation. The block will weigh around 6,000 tonnes and will stand over 18 metres (59 ft) tall, 70 metres (230 ft) long and 40 metres (130 ft) wide.[58]

On 16 August 2011, the 8,000-tonne Lower Block 03 of Queen Elizabeth left BAE Systems Surface Ships' Govan shipyard in Glasgow on a large ocean-going barge. Travelling 600 miles (970 km) around the northern coast of Scotland, the block arrived at Rosyth on the evening of 20 August 2011.[59]

On 25 November 2011, it was announced that Queen Elizabeth will not be finished in a CATOBAR configuration. The First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope has said:

Current navy assumptions will see the second-in-class aircraft carrier fitted with catapults and arrestor wire ready to operate the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter carrier variant in 2020, but the fate of HMS Queen Elizabeth, which will launch first and be used to train crews in handling HMS Prince of Wales, is less certain. It will, as a first of class vessel have two, if not three years of trials, we will be operating the biggest warship we have ever operated in this country and therefore there will be a protracted period of trials during which the Prince of Wales build continues. We will sort out all the challenges that a new class of vessel bring along and we will operate that ship effectively by the time Prince of Wales comes out such that at that moment we will transfer the crew to the Prince of Wales, all qualified to operate that type of ship. You just then have six months' worth of new ship trials and we then get straight on to the fixed wing piece of the jigsaw.[60]

Under the present plans Queen Elizabeth will enter service in 2016.[61]

Prince of Wales

Main article: HMS Prince of Wales (R09)

Construction on the second carrier, Prince of Wales, began on 26 May 2011 when then Defence Secretary Liam Fox cut the first steel.[62] On 25 November 2011, the First Sea Lord Admiral Stanhope, stated that Prince of Wales will be fitted to a CATOBAR configuration,[60] the conversion to which is expected to increase the total cost, potentially to over £6.2 billion.[63] Under these proposals, HMS Prince of Wales would be only the second ship in the world to be fitted with the American EMALS system,[64] and under present plans will enter service in 2018.[61]

See also

References

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  64. ^ Felstead, Peter (12 September 2011). "UK carrier to receive second EMALS production shipset, Fox confirms". Janes. Retrieved 1 January 2012.


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