Portsmouth Navy Base

 A few weeks ago I had reason to visit the Portsmouth Navy Base, having a good look around at the museum ships was a treat, having never really had the time in the past.

It was good to get up close (or as close as they would let us) to one of the many vessels that I have worked on in my time.

The aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth was in dock and just to see the parts that I was involved in building was a great experience.

 Nice view bow on showing her ramp (ski jump) and the overhanging port Sponson.

Always great to be able to see the ships that you worked on, and very impressive she is.

For more on my visit to the south coast ports see my website.

This one is a whole lot older than HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Victory is the oldest commissioned ship in the Royal Navy. (No I was not around when she was built)

HMS Victory showing the amazing ships carpentry around her elaborate stern, fantastic work for the shipwrights of the day.

QUEEN ELIZABETH Floats

HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH was floated out from her building dock last week and pleased to say she floats.

While the dock was flooded she was carefully monitored by the guy’s from the “Dim Squad” (Dimensional Control) although just what this fine body of men were going to do if she began to heel over is left to the imagination, I just cannot see them being able to run around placing side shores to prop her up.

Not quite as spectacular as a traditional slipway launch but an important event in the life of the ship all the same, she will now be berthed at the quayside in the large basin at Rosyth Dockyard and all her outfitting will continue for another two or three years before she begins commissioning trials so more work for the men for some time to come, which is all good news as far as the workers are concerned.

The second ship of the class HMS PRINCE OF WALES is due to begin assembly in the same dry dock in a couple of months.

 

The new Aircraft Carrier HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH floats out from her assembly dock at Rosyth

 

It would be interesting to know how level in the water she sits just to know if her ballast calculations were correct as she was floated out, this was always a very nervous time for a shipyard and the Naval Architects responsible for the ships calculations at the time of launch, more importantly if she was being launched down a slipway than a simple float out a real squeaky bum time to put things mildly.

Queen Victoria Cruise Liner (The Loftsmans collection)


Just for a size comparison the new Aircraft Carrier QUEEN ELIZABETH is slightly longer than the Cunard Cruise ship QUEEN VICTORIA shown above during a visit to the Firth of Forth

 

HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH

The sum of the parts makes for a pretty impressive weapons platform built around the British Isles in the few remaining shipyards and put together in Fife, Scotland

Lets forget about the politics and the build problems encountered while building the Royal Navy's largest ever ship, to hell with the cost of the vessel as well, as the cost would only have been wasted by the useless politicians on something else anyway, at least this project kept alive some skills and shipbuilding know how in a country that used to build ships.
So the day has finally arrived when the  new Aircraft Carrier is named, not launched mind you as she will have a what they call now "A Float Off" as she was assembled in dry dock.
It is a strange feeling for shipbuilders at the launch or in this case naming ceremony as they can already see there jobs on the line, the harder the Shipwrights, Platers and Welders work then the faster they face un-employment, just all part of the job of a shipbuilder.
Despite all the politics involved in this particular build it is still a great occasion when you see a ship completed although this one will still have 3 or 4 years outfitting work ahead of her before she is ready to accept aircraft (if they ever complete the aircraft due to fly from her)
This is also a time for the politicians and there assembled flunky's and upper management of the concerned shipyards to do a lot of back slapping and hand wringing again having had little to do with the building of a ship, politics and shipbuilding you just cant separate.
Its the guys who built and assembled this mighty ship who deserve the pat on the back, and yes there were many problems during her construction and some which I am very qualified to speak on as I was involved for a couple of years in her construction, You see I am a shipbuilder, so it would be hoped that they now have the experience behind them and the second carrier will be assembled much better and will in fact prove to be the better built of the two aircraft carriers, strange then that there is still talk of this better second one being mothballed or even sold off at a cut down price........see politics and shipbuilding they go hand and hand.
For a lot more on this story of the naming of the ship at the Rosyth Dockyard in Scotland (Note - It is not a shipyard) see the story in the Scotsman newspaper.

I could not direct you to the BBC and there stories on the ship as they still don't seem to know the difference between a Ship and a Boat.(perhaps a sign of the times)
The ignorance today in the U.K. about shipbuilding or should I say about the lack of shipbuilding knowledge is a bit scary for an Island Nation but again that's politics and this blog is about Shipbuilding.