Update from Rear Admiral Henry Parker, Director Ships Acquistion (MoD) It has been a very busy 6 months in the history Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) carriers programme since I last sent you an update. I couldn t possibly cover all the achievements but here are a few highlights. HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH Smoking Permitted: At the beginning of June, smoke rose for the first time from the funnels of HMS Queen Elizabeth as the ship produced power from her onboard Diesel Generators (DG). The ship had undergone months of preparation work to start the first of her four Wärtsilä diesel engines, which are directly coupled to the General Electric (GE) generators. Together, each power unit weighs approximately 200 tonnes the weight of two Boeing 757 aircraft. The DG sets will be the main cruising engines for the ship, but when higher speed is required, two MT30 Gas Turbine Alternators (GTAs) will also be used. When both the DG and GTAs are deployed, the ship will produce 109MW. Each DG has an independent fuel system to supply 7600 & 10200 litres of diesel per hour at full power and the engines create around 95db of noise which is like being stood 5m away from a working chainsaw. At the end of the month I accompanied Philip Dunne, Minister for Defence Procurement, as he officially switched on HMS Queen Elizabeth s Diesel Generators.
Eyes Wide Open: At the end of July a major milestone for the programme was achieved as the ship s Long Range Radar (LRR) began transmitting and rotating and thus forming a picture of the air traffic around her. Once started up, the LRR immediately started tracking aircraft as they approached Glasgow airport as well as transatlantic traffic to and from the rest of the UK. When the ship is at sea the LRR will have a range of 400km. The first parts of the Visual Surveillance System (VSS) were set to work in September, allowing live video of remote machinery spaces to be displayed in the operations room. When fully operational this system will allow video from any of hundreds of cameras around the ship to be displayed at key command centres and other compartments. These include internal cameras monitoring engine and machinery spaces; cameras covering the magazines; external cameras overseeing the area around the hull; and pan tilt and zoom cameras that will focus in on areas of concern. There are also cameras with audio feeds observing key spaces such as the bridge and operations room. A cutting-edge radar system, capable of detecting objects as small as a tennis ball and travelling at three times the speed of sound more than 25Km away, was successfully installed on the Aft Island of HMS Queen Elizabeth in late September. The Artisan 3D radar system will be used to deliver air traffic management, providing the ship with unparalleled awareness and control of the skies around her. The installation marks a major milestone in the preparation for sea trials. The radar can monitor more than 800 objects simultaneously
from 200 to 200,000 metres away and cut through radio interference equal to 10,000 mobile phone signals. It will deliver uncompromising air defence and anti-ship operations. Powering up: Power & Propulsion (P&P) is another area where considerable progress is being made. On the 23rd of October the aft GTA started up for the first time with the forward GTA following soon after on the 4th November. The team worked through a number of challenges to achieve these significant milestones while not taking their collective eyes off the ball as they prepared to load test the four diesel generators (DGs). Having tested the modified fresh watercooling system on DG1 (forward), the team progressed to successfully trial that DG at 110% load for the first time. Elsewhere in the P&P programme, on the 29 th October the first propulsion motor was turned (motor four on the port-side) for the first time using the ship s own HV power. Slightly more visible for anyone walking around the starboard side of HMS Queen Elizabeth is that the forward aircraft lift has been moved half-way to the maintenance position. All these elements are strong reminders that the programme is rushing towards HMS Queen Elizabeth being ready to go to sea.
HMS PRINCE OF WALES A Very Busy Spring: It was a hectic May for the Prince of Wales team in Rosyth. On Sunday 10 May the forward island, a crucial component of the ship, containing the main bridge and around 100 vital mission systems compartments was lifted on to HMS Prince of Wales. There then followed the demanding alignment of the 2.4 metre diameter gas turbine exhausts which were prefitted in the island and below in the ship superstructure. The forward island, already has all consoles installed, as well as 66,000m of cables, 2,622m of pipes and 500m ventilation. The very next week, on 15 May, the ship s bow was attached. This allowed the upper section VB05/06 to be lifted into position on 29 May.
Big is Beautiful: We welcomed the largest section of the second carrier to Rosyth on Friday 21st August following its voyage from Glasgow. Lower Block 04 contains the hangar, machinery space, mission systems compartments and accommodation. The massive hull section was an impressive sight as it sailed under the Forth Bridges. The block is not only the largest section of HMS Prince of Wales, it is also the largest section of carrier of all (weighing 11,200 tonnes) due to the more advanced level of outfitting with which it was delivered. Farewell Cammell Laird BZ: The final sections of Centre Block 04 arrived in Rosyth at the beginning of September following its departure from the Cammell Laird yard on Merseyside on 29 August. Cammell Laird have, over the last five years, fabricated and outfitted nine flight deck units for HMS Queen Elizabeth, and six flight deck units for HMS Prince of Wales. On the Skids: On Friday 9 October more than 30,000 tonnes of the forward half of the ship was mechanically skidded back in the drydock to meet LB04. This feat of precision engineering saw the forward half of the ship moved back 17 metres on a specialised hydraulic skidding system. This resulted in a perfect joining of the two halves of the ship, with less than a 3mm tolerance down the centre line. The operation is believed to be a record within the UK in terms of the weight of ship being skidded. Welding the two sections of the ship together allows all of the pipework and the 3.2 million metres of electrical cable to be connected by the outfitting teams, ahead of commissioning.
Just a day earlier LB05, the last hull section to be completed by the build yards for QEC, began its journey to Rosyth from Govan. Only Govan and Rosyth remain part of the programme and UB14 (Aft Island), due to arrive Rosyth in early December, will complete the Govan participation in QEC programme.
Powering Up(2): On Friday 30 October the installation of the second MT30 GTA into HMS Prince of Wales took place. Generating 36 megawatts (around 50,000 horsepower), the Rolls-Royce MT30 is the world s most power-dense Marine Gas Turbine, a key feature for naval ships where high power occupying minimum space is essential. And Finally Moving forward, the coming year will see HMS Prince of Wales structurally complete and the arrival of the first of her ship s company. On HMS Queen Elizabeth it will be all hands to action stations as we prepare for the first staff moving onboard and sea trials towards the end of the year. I will update you on all these activities in the new year Yours Aye, Henry Parker