Royal Navy investigates leak on board flagship aircraft carrier
THE Royal Navy has begun an investigation following a leak aboard HMS Prince of Wales, its £3 billion aircraft carrier, while it was docked at a naval base.
Video on Facebook showed water pouring through the ceiling into an accommodation area of the 65,000-tonne warship. The leak is understood to have taken place on Friday while the ship was at Portsmouth Naval Base.
A Royal Navy spokesman said: “Following a minor issue with an internal system, the ship’s company were required to remove a small volume of water from the ship.
“An investigation into the cause is now under way, but this will not affect the ship’s programme.”
It is understood that the pipe was isolated quickly and the water was mopped up by the crew.
The leak comes after its sister ship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, had to cut short sea trials last July after a seal burst, causing water to pour from a pipe and to flood several decks.
Following the incident, the ship’s then commanding officer, Capt Steve Moorhouse, said it was safe and that, in his experience, leaks were a “weekly” problem for warships. HMS Prince of Wales has recently been testing its safety systems including the deployment of life rafts and emergency chutes while the Queen Elizabeth set sail from anchor off Gosport on Friday to carry out sea trials off the south coast.
The older of the two carriers had to delay its departure from Portsmouth to enable its 700-strong crew to be tested for Covid-19. Two tested positive and were removed. The rest of the ship underwent a period of quarantine at sea before commencing the exercises.
Last month it was reported that residents had complained that noise and pollution from HMS Prince of Wales had kept them awake at night. Neighbours claimed the hum of the generators was disturbing the neighbourhood.
Neil Sutton, 59, told the Portsmouth News: “No resident in this waterfront can escape the sound of this ship.”