They have been joining up the dots —almost literally — on HMS Queen Elizabeth, the new aircraft carrier, the largest warship built in Britain, which is now towering above the rooftops in Rosyth dockyard.
The five huge sections from different yards for the 65,000-tonne ship have been assembled. In the coming year it will be floated out of the dock, and named by the Queen — the first naval ship to bear her name.
Crew members are shortly to be given a special app for their mobile phones to help them navigate around the ship.
Walking through the ship recently on a clear winter’s day was like walking through the giant set of a sci-fi movie. Cables and wires of all kinds seem to stretch for miles. In all, 12,500 miles of fibre-optic cable will be installed and 18,750 miles of copper wiring. The flight deck space is more than three football pitches .
Captain Simon Petitt, 46, commands the Royal Navy crew of 111 now involved in the construction — almost 10 times as many civilian workers are employed. The captain keeps up a steady bombardment of statistics.
The ship is the Navy’s biggest ever. But it will take a crew of only 690 to drive it and man it — this goes up to 1,680 when the F35 attack jets are on board. Alternatively the ship can carry 920 Royal Marines.
“The Americans tell me that we are either heroic or stupid,” says Captain Petitt, “They want to know how we manage it with such small numbers.”
He adds: “We do it by maximum use of automation — particularly in handling ammunition and ordnance.”
The handling of bombs, bullets and missiles for the aircraft from the storage bays five decks below the hangars is all done by machinery.
Queen Elizabeth and her sister ship the Prince of Wales are currently budgeted at £6.2 billion to build.
The QE will be able to fly 36 F35 strike aircraft and house Apache attack helicopters.
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