The second aircraft carrier to be constructed at Rosyth is on track for delivery as planned in around a year’s time. Picture: Press Association.

Confidence Prince of Wales will be ready on time, however budget is ‘under pressure’

The second Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier to be constructed at Rosyth is on track for delivery as planned in around a year, although questions have been raised over whether it will come in on budget.

The Courier was given a glimpse of how the HMS Prince of Wales – one of the largest and most powerful warships ever built for the Royal Navy – is coming along.

Those behind the project are confident it will be ready for sea trials by November 2019 ahead of acceptance by the Royal Navy the following month.

Having already assembled the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier in Fife, all the lessons learned by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA) from that prototype build are being incorporated into Prince of Wales, which means the second vessel in the class will be cheaper and faster to build.

However, Sir Simon Lister, managing director of the alliance – which includes the Ministry of Defence, Babcock, BAE Systems and Thalos – admitted that the total £6.2 billion budget for both carriers is “under pressure”, albeit the final figure is not yet known.

“We won’t know the exact outturn until we finish the job, but one of the powerful things about this contact is that any budgetary over-run is shared between the industry and government, so there is a very strong pressure to get this done at minimum cost to the taxpayer and companies,” he said.

“It’s our objective to finish this programme on time and as close to budget as we can.”

The project was described as a “65,000-tonnes Airfix kit” by Sir Simon yesterday.

More than 51 million man hours have gone into the engineering and construction of both carriers, and the HMS Prince of Wales’ flight deck is 280 metres long and 70 metres wide – enough to fit in three football pitches.

With a lifespan of 50 years, the QE class carriers are the first in the world to incorporate a twin island design, which separates command of the ship from flying operations.

It can also accommodate around 36 F-35B Lightning II fighter jets, as well as any type of helicopter used by the UK armed forces, while its Artisan 3D radar can track an object the size of a tennis ball travelling at three times the speed of sound from 20km away.

In terms of personnel, around 700 crew members are expected to be on board but it can accommodate 1,600 people, boasting 471 cabins with 1,611 bunks.

Little wonder then, according to Captain Stephen Moorhouse, Prince of Wales’ commanding officer, that other nations and navies are looking at the UK with envy.

“If we get it right here, we get it right across the whole naval endeavour,” he added.

It will be also Captain Moorhouse’s job to squeeze the giant carrier out of the gate at Rosyth with around 12 inches to spare either side.

“It certainly focuses the mind a bit,” he said.

It’s our objective to finish this programme on time and as close to budget as we can. SIR SIMON LISTER