Mind the paint! Warship leaves dock with 14in to spare
WITH just 14 inches to spare each side, Britain’s biggest ever warship squeezed out of her dockyard berth yesterday and headed for the seas.
Onlookers held their breath as HMS Queen Elizabeth was steered through a tiny exit gap at Rosyth in Scotland.
Beneath the water line there was just 20 inches between the bottom of the 65,000-tonne ship and the seabed.
With the aid of 11 tug boats, the mighty vessel then made her way out into the Forth estuary in an hour-long operation at high tide.
Engineers and dock workers watched proudly as she dropped anchor while patrolling speed boats kept her under armed guard. The £3.1billion aircraft carrier then waited for low tide so she could begin the task of squeezing under a set of three bridges before reaching the open sea.
After tackling the new Queensferry crossing and the Forth road bridge, the carrier faces her toughest test – the 127-year- old Forth Bridge. Bending her mast at an angle, the floating fortress will be able to glide beneath with just over 6ft to spare. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon yesterday taunted the Russians by suggesting they would be jealous of Britain’s new carrier.
He told the BBC they would look at the ship ‘with a little bit of envy’, adding: ‘We will take every precaution to make sure that they don’t get too close, but I think they will be admiring her.’
He added: ‘This floating fortress is by far the most powerful ship ever built in Britain that will enable us to tackle multiple and changing threats across the globe.
‘HMS Queen Elizabeth is an enduring example of British imagination, ingenuity and invention that will help keep us safe for decades to come. She is built by the best, crewed by the best and will deliver for Britain.
He added: ‘For the next 50 years she will deploy around the world, demonstrating British power and our commitment to confronting the emerging challenges from a dangerous world.
‘The whole country can be proud of this national achievment.’ After passing the bridges the carrier will drop anchor again at Kirkcaldy for several days, where commanders will analyse how she handled her first manoeuvres at sea.
The ship, which will have a 733strong crew, will also head to the Moray Forth for six weeks of sea trials before returning to Rosyth for more engineering works.
She will meet her full crew in Portsmouth later this year and be officially accepted into the fleet of the Royal Navy.
First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones said: ‘Already this ship represents the best of the UK’s industrial and engineering expertise, and once in service she will symbolise our military power and authority in the world for decades to come. There is still much work to do between now and then, but be in no doubt: a new era of British maritime power is about to begin.’
HMS Queen Elizabeth, along with her sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, is part of a defence programme worth £6.2billion.
Measuring 932ft, the huge vessel spent nearly a decade under construction. Built to carry 40 aircraft, she is expected to boast 24 of the world’s most advanced fighter jets – the F-35B Lightning. The massive flight deck is 280m long and 70m wide – enough space for three football pitches.
Captain Jerry Kyd told Sky News yesterday: ‘Of course they are expensive, absolutely, it keeps us in the premier league among nations around the world.’ The ship’s navigator Jez Brettell compared handling the ship on its first outing to taking out a new sports car before it had been road-tested. ‘The first time we put those levers
forward will be the first time that we will have been under our own power and moving,’ he said. The carrier was scheduled to be fully operational by 2020 but it may be delayed because of technical difficulties, Britain’s National Audit Office said earlier this year.