November 2010

It's been a while since any real news has come around. The dockyards are busy with the building and the tabloids are busy with speculation.

HMS Queen Elizabeth bell is presented to the Royal Navy

 The bell from the original Dreadnought battleship, HMS Queen Elizabeth has been presented to the Navy by Chatham Dockyard Historical Society.

The bell will return to active duty on the aircraft carrier of the same name, currently being built at Rosyth. The return of trophies associated with ships of the same name is a long-established navy routine. The new HMS Queen Elizabeth will be the largest ship ever operated by the Royal Navy. The first warship to bear the name HMS Queen Elizabeth was launched on 16 October 1913, the lead ship of an important and innovative class of battleships which were powered entirely by oil.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/kent/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9180000/9180749.stm

HMS Queen Elizabeth served with distinction in both World Wars, receiving battle honours at Dardanelles in 1915, Crete in 1941, Burma in 1944-5, and Sabang and East Indies in 1945. Seriously damaged by an Italian underwater attack in 1941, her repairs in the USA were funded by a donation by the Baltic Exchange, which was presented with the ship's bell on her de-commissioning in 1948. After many years in the Baltic Exchange, the bell was passed to the Chatham Dockyard Historical Society for safe keeping and display. There will be a further formal presentation of the bell in Rosyth on 18 November 2010. At 65,000 tons, the new HMS Queen Elizabeth will be the powerful surface warship ever constructed in the UK. With an expected service life of up to 50 year.

Boat comes in for Christmas at yard 

There are four projects being undertaken at the Hebburn yard, with the first units of the centre block of the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier due out of the fabrication shed at the end of November.

New layout post-SDSR