Originally Posted by
Biggus
Just a couple of points, which will no doubt be ignored as most of my comments are:
This thread has been running 11 years now. Given that these carriers are supposed to be build with an intended 50 year lifespan (working seals permitting), can we expect to still read comments here in 40 years time? If so I suggest the title of the thread is changed from "Future" Carrier.
The main gate decision to build these carriers was taken in November 2006. At the time the target In Service Dates for the ships were 2012 and 2015. I said at the time that these were wildly optimistic! I believe that HMS Queen Elizabeth was commissioned on 7th December 2017, with Initial Operating Capability in 2018, but an In Service date? Even if it's 2018, that's a 6 year delay on a 6 year target (yes, I know people will go at length about delays caused by decision of what aircraft type to use, conventional vs VSTOL, and subsequent redesigns - but it's still been 12 years instead of 6, and 6 was never going to be met in my opinion).
Yes, a good part of the delay was indeed added in deliberately by the politicians. By way of comparison, Typhoon was delivered in 2003, some 4.5 years late and IIRC it achieved limited IOC some four years after that. Concept work on what has evolved into the Type 26 frigate (now due in service in the mid 2020s) began in 1994. What became the Type 45 destroyer was originally envisaged as entering service around 2000 but actually entered service in 2009. Nimrod MRA4 was ordered in 1996 with a planned ISD of 2003. The project was binned in 2010 by which time the ISD had slipped to 2012. You could also have some fun looking at the tale of the army's armoured vehicle plans over the last 20 years or so. At least with the carriers we are now on the cusp of gaining a couple of highly capable and flexible assets, the biggest problem to have emerged with the first vessel being a dodgy propshaft seal.