Article Posted on : - Sep 22, 2011

ROSYTH DOCKYARD (BNS): British Royal Navy’s ambitious Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier programme marked a milestone on Wednesday with the beginning of assembly of the first of two 65,000-tonne vessels at a shipyard in Fife, Scotland.

The assembly of the lead ship of the class, HMS Queen Elizabeth, began as Goliath, one of Europe’s largest cranes, swung into action under the watchful eye of Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology Peter Luff.

The event was held at Babcock’s shipyard in Rosyth, Fife.

It will be followed by the first major lift in the programme later this week when the first section of the two-deck-high 8,000-tonne centre block, which includes a section of flight deck, will be lifted onto the seven-deck-high 8,000-tonne lower block 03, marking a major milestone in the construction of HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The Queen Elizabeth Class carriers will be the largest, most capable and powerful warships ever built for the Royal Navy. The warships will form the cornerstone of Britain’s ability to project military power overseas.

Each warship will have a displacement of about 65,000 tonnes and range of 8,000 to 10,000 nautical miles. It will have nine decks, plus a flight deck, and two propellers weighing 33 tonnes, driving the ship at a maximum speed of over 25 knots (46km/h).

The vessels will operate 12 of the carrier-variant F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets, allowing for unparalleled interoperability with allied forces.

BAE Systems, which has been contracted to build the vessels, has also begun construction of HMS Prince of Wales – the second of the two aircraft carriers.