Faulty part on warship from Govan
Contractors will be forced to foot the bill to fix a leak found in the UK’S biggestever warship.
A leaky seal in the propellor shaft of the £3.1 billion HMS Queen Elizabeth was discovered on sea trials and will cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to fix.
The faulty section was built at the BAE Systems yards in Glasgow.
A leak in the UK’S biggest-ever warship came from a section built in Govan, its builders have admitted.
The leaky seal in a propellor shaft has let water pour into the £3.1 billion HMS Queen Elizabeth during sea trials.
The fault is expected to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to fix – but will be paid for by the construction firms.
The consortium which built the aircraft carrier included the BAE Systems yards at Govan and Scotstoun in Glasgow, and Babcock in Rosyth.
The leak happened in “lower block four”, a section built in Govan, BAE said.
The UK’S most powerful ship ever built, which is 280m long and weighs 65,000 tonnes, was accepted into the Royal Navy by the Queen only two weeks ago.
However Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson stressed the problem would not cost taxpayers a penny.
He said: “This is the reason why we have the sea trials, to make sure 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.”
During her first phase of sea trials in July, the ship’s commanding officer Captain Jerry Kyd said they came across some tweaks and changes – that would continue to be made over the next couple of years.
A spokeswoman for the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA), which built the ship, said the leaky seal was known about prior to HMS Queen Elizabeth being commissioned and accepted into the Royal Navy. She said the vessel could be taken to sea and the problem was expected to take a couple of days to fix.
The spokeswoman said it should be rectified in the New Year without any need to take the ship into a dry dock.
She said “It is normal practice for a volume of work and defect resolution to continue following vessel acceptance.
“This will be completed prior to the nation’s flagship recommencing her programme at sea in 2018.”
She said the consortium had six months to make adjustments and rectify “snagging issues”.
The spokeswoman confirmed the cost involved would be covered by the firms involved in her construction, which also includes Thales.
Other yards involved included Appledore in Devon, Cammell Laird in Liverpool, and A&P on the Tyne in Newcastle.
More than 10,000 people worked on the ship, which was transported to Rosyth to be assembled.
Prime Minister Theresa May has hailed the vessel as a “stunning piece” of engineering.
A Royal Navy spokesman said: “This is the biggest ship in our history, and sea trials are precisely for finding manageable teething problems like this and rectifying them.
“Repairs under contract are already under way alongside in Portsmouth and the sea trials will take place as planned in the New Year, when we will continue to rigorously test the ship before she enters service.”