UKs future aircraft carriers given the green light

UK’s Secretary of State has announced the building of Britain’s largest ever naval ships and orders will now be placed for the two new aircraft carriers. The ships will have a displacement of 65,000 tons and will be named, as previously announced, HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH and HMS PRINCE OF WALES with delivery dates to be in 2014 and 2016 respectively – some two years later than had been originally expected.

Shipyards at Rosyth, Clyde, Barrow and Portsmouth will be involved and, during construction, some 10,000 jobs would be created and 5,000 jobs at the four shipbuilding centres would be sustained. The French navy also wishes to build a carrier to the same design and much collaboration had been taking place with France on the project.

The new carriers will have a maximum speed of 25 knots. At 15 knots the range will be 10,000 nautical miles and the ships will carry food, fuel and stores for an endurance of seven days between replenishments. Each ship will have a complement of typically 1,200, including 600 aircrew.

In order to maximise the flexibility that CVF can offer over its potential 50 year service life, the carriers will be built to an innovative adaptable design. Although the final dimensions of CVF have yet to be confirmed, initial indications suggest that the carriers could be the largest warships ever built for the Royal Navy. The base port will be Portsmouth, Hampshire.