Above The High Seas Recommisioned for Action

As Rough As It May Seem,It's Still Steady As You Go...

At Rosyth, the massive 1,000-tonne crane needed to begin work on assembling the new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers is now being manufactured and is due to arrive later this year, around August '10.

BAM Ritchies, installed pilings to support 1,000 ton capacity ‘Goliath’ gantry crane spanning 120m which will work over the length of the dock moving aircraft carrier sections into position.

The carrier build programme is worth £1 billion to Babcock, who will have 432 employees, including 140 apprentices, working on the ships in Rosyth.

After a nasty spill on the floor this blog is gearing up along side the massive under taking in and around the Babcock shipyard.




Last month two modules, making up the bulbous bow, were towed under the Forth bridges as they completed their journey from Babcock's ship yard at Appledore, Devon.

The blocks are the first two sub-blocks of the lower block one (LB01), which comprises the forward sections from the keel up to the flight deck.

LB01 consists of six sub-blocks (VB001-006), ranging in weight from around 112-339t.

The first two sub-blocks include the bulbous bow (VB001) and the bow section that sits above the second sub-block (VB002) comprising decks seven to five below the hangar deck.

The bulbous bow is the projecting 'bulb' at the bow of the ship, which alters the bow wave generation and water flow around the hull to reduce drag and increase the carrier's speed, fuel efficiency and stability.

VB001 is 30.3m long, 10.8m wide and 9.6m high, and weighs around 293t, while the second sub-block is 21.6m long, 17.4m wide and 6.2m high, and uses 112t of steel.

Both blocks will be joined together at Rosyth, including integration of electrical cabling, mechanical pipe systems, ventilation ducts and furniture.

The remaining sub-blocks (VB003-006) currently under construction at Appledore will be shipped to Rosyth in early 2011.

The 280m-long and 74m-wide HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales will have a displacement capacity of 65,000t.