April 2010

Bow section is complete and on its waste to Rosyth

 The bulbous bow, which was delivered to Rosyth in the early days of April 2010, was created in Appledore Shipyard.

Bulbous Bow:

• 30.3 metres long (equal to 3.5 double decker buses) 
• 10.8 metres wide 
•  9.6 metres high (taller than five average men) 
• 293 tonnes 

Upper section of bow:

• 21.6 metres long
• 17.4 metres wide
• 6.2 metres high 
• 141 tonnes 

 The two sections will make up the bow of the ship, and together weigh about 400 tonnes. The larger of the two sections - called the bulbous bow - is similar in size and shape to a conventional submarine, yet only a tenth of the full length of the ship. It is designed to increase speed, fuel efficiency and stability - sitting just below the waterline to help the ship to cut cleanly through the water, reducing drag. The second section sits above, making up decks seven to five below the aircraft hangar.

Bulbous part of the bow, roughly the size of a submarine

En-route to Rosyth from Devon

Arrives at Rosyth

A further £20m worth of contracts signed
The Aircraft Carrier Alliance has awarded a further £20m worth of new contracts to UK companies for work on the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers, it has been announced.

• Tactical communications systems will be supplied under a £6m contract with Thales UK, securing approximately 30 jobs at the firm's Crawley site.
• Cullum Detuners Ltd in Derby has won a £5m contract for designing and manufacturing the enclosure that the Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbine engines will be fitted into as well as integration work for the overall gas turbine alternator 
• Aker Qserv in Aberdeen has won a £5m contract to provide preservation and flushing services which will protect all the pipe work on the ships from rusting. Between 20 and 30 staff will work on the contract.
• Darchem in Stockton on Tees has won a £2.6m contract for folding fire barriers on both ships.
• BAE Systems has been awarded a £1.2m contract to design and build the ships' Pole Masts. Sensors and other equipment to enable Air Traffic Control and tactical operations will be mounted to the pole masts, which will be 17m high and located on top of the aft island of the ships.
• Cablofil in Sutton Weaver has won an £800,000 contract for a system to organise cables throughout the ships. The system will use 120,000 metres of steel wire tray that will contain the many kilometres of cabling. 

 Rolls Royce completed first Gas Turbine for carrier

Rolls Royce has completed its first gas turbine for the future HMS Queen Elizabeth. The first of four MT30s for the two 65,000 tonne vessels also passed a programme of stringent tests and certification at the Rolls-Royce Marine test facility, in Bristol, where the gas turbine was operated across a range of load conditions up to the maximum power output of 36MW.