Scuppered! New aircraft carrier has 3ft deluge in engine room
BRITAIN’S newest aircraft carrier flooded to the depth of 3ft after a water leak in the engine room.
It is the second time hmS Prince of Wales – a £3.1billion state-of-the-art ship – has flooded in the past five months.
Footage filmed by crew members showed water gushing down the stairs and submerging electrical cabinets and pipes.
one of the sailors can be heard saying: ‘That’s deep. oh s***. That’s one metre above the floor.’ Navy sources confirmed that the water was at least 3ft deep at one point and flooded an engine compartment. Nobody was hurt in the incident and the Royal Navy is investigating the precise cause of the leak.
An internal system developed a fault causing the flood on board the 65,000-ton warship while it was at its home port of Portsmouth Naval Base on Thursday.
It is the second time that the warship has developed a leak. In may a video emerged of water pouring through the ceiling into an accommodation area.
It is understood that most of the water from the recent leak has now been removed and put into a holding tank before it is pumped off into a barge. A Royal Navy spokesman said that an investigation had been launched into the leak but said the extent of any damage was still being assessed.
‘Following an issue with an internal system in hmS Prince of Wales, the ship’s company removed water from one of the ship’s compartments,’ he said. ‘No one was injured and an investigation into the cause of the issue is under way.’
In January more than 100 sailors had to abandon the ship and spend the night on their sister ship, hmS Queen Elizabeth, after hmS Prince of Wales suffered a power cut in Portsmouth harbour. Sources blamed a problem with its generators and electrical back-up.
And in July last year hmS Queen Elizabeth had to cut short sea trials after a seal burst, causing a large quantity of water to pour from a pipe and to flood through several decks.
The ship’s then commanding officer captain Steve moorhouse said that in his experience leaks were a ‘weekly’ problem for warships.
In 2017, hmS Queen Elizabeth also faced multi- million pound repairs after it was discovered that a faulty seal on a propeller shaft was letting in 200 litres of sea water an hour.
The identical aircraft carriers – built in Scotland for £6.2billion – are the Navy’s largest and most powerful ships ever. They are due to serve the country for the next 50 years.
‘Water gushing down the stairs’