The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Taxpayer will not foot bill after aircraft carrier springs a leak
HMS Queen Elizabeth unlikely to return to Fife dock where she was built
Repairs to a leaking HMS Queen Elizabeth, the UK’s new £3.1 billion aircraft carrier, will not cost the British taxpayer a penny, the Defence Secretary has insisted.
The warship, the biggest and most powerful ever built by the UK and constructed in Rosyth, was only accepted into the Royal Navy fleet by the Queen earlier this month.
Pressed on suggestions that repairs could cost millions, Gavin Williamson told the Press Association the money would come “from the contractors who built her”.
“This isn’t going to cost the British taxpayer a penny,” he said, as it was revealed a leaky seal was causing water to pour into the behemoth warship.
The vessel, which is 65,000 tonnes and 919ft (280m) long, has an estimated working life of half a century and is believed to have been leaking for some time.
It is understood the cost of fixing the leak will not cost millions as reported, but that the bill could reach into the hundreds of thousands.
Mr Williamson went on: “This is the reason why we have the sea trials, to make sure that everything is working absolutely perfectly.
“This is something that work is currently ongoing to deal with, and HMS Queen Elizabeth will be going out early on in the new year to continue her sea trials and making sure she is fully operable in terms of helicopters and the F-35 being able to fly off her deck.”
A spokeswoman for the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (Aca) said the leaky seal was known about prior to HMS Queen Elizabeth being commissioned and accepted into the Royal Navy and the ship would not return to Fife for repairs.
She said the vessel could be taken to sea, that the problem is expected to take a couple of days to fix, and that it should be rectified in the new year – without any need to take the ship into a dry dock.
“It is normal practice for a volume of work and defect resolution to continue following vessel acceptance,” she said.
“This will be completed prior to the nation’s flagship recommencing her programme at sea in 2018.”