Now the steel cutting (on the first of the main hull sections) has started:
RN website news article
First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathon Band said:
"The QE Class, together with the supporting aircraft forming the Carrier Strike, represent a step change in defence’s capability, enabling Britain to deliver airpower from the sea wherever and whenever it is required. This strategic effect, influence and, where necessary, direct action will give us an unprecedented range of options to deal with the challenges of an uncertain world at a time and place of our choosing.”
“These ships are not just spare airfields, they are an instrument of national power: the ‘big stick’ which can be waved by the Government in areas of strategic interest to influence, coerce and deter.”
Guided by Scott Ballingal, a 21 year old BVT apprentice from Erskine who will be working on the Carriers, Rear Admiral the Princess Royal pushed the button to start the computer guided laser that cut the first piece of steel for the hull of these immense new ships.
Scott is one of 70 new apprentices who have been taken on by BVT to support work on the carrier. The programme has reinvigorated apprenticeship schemes at the prime shipyards and provides a solid workload for the coming years.
Three other major sections (called lower blocks) of the ship will be assembled at yards at Portsmouth and Rosyth. Other fabrication work will be done at the Appledore shipyards in Devon. Each block will be transported to Rosyth dockyard where they will be joined together to form the hull of the ship.
While construction is just beginning, the project has moved on apace since the manufacture contract was signed in July last year, with £700M worth of sub-contracts placed for the equipment and furnishings that will kit out the ships from the weapons systems to the galleys and cabins. UK industry has also benefited from the development phase of the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft and is well placed to win further work as this programme progresses well into the 21st century.
With respect to delays and cost increases, I think Blandy hit it on the head when he said...
Before the anti-carrier mafia get started - read the full article on the Beeb. It notes that the cost overrun is primarily driven by MoD (well Treasury as we all well know) driven delays ie. longer term material & wage inflation, change in accounting. The article notes that it is felt that the project is actually being run well. (as you would hope - they have had long enough to design & derisk the bloody things)
There's a story in my local paper about how a council funded composting facility is over budget - once again largely due to a political decision to run to project over a greater length of time. There's also an advert for shipyard apprentices, to work on CVF amongst other things.