October 2015
ACA Monthly News
HMS Prince of Wales skids together for UK record
Defence Minister Philip Dunne said: “This is a great
moment for the Royal Navy and for our Armed Forces, as
our second aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales begins to
take shape. This is one of the biggest engineering feats of
the carrier programme to date, and the so-called
‘skidding’ of these giant sections is believed to be the
largest ever such move in the UK.
HMS Prince of Wales passed a significant milestone
when more than 30,000t of the forward half of the ship
was mechanically skidded back to the 12,000t
superblock which makes up the rear of the vessel on
Friday.
This feat of precision engineering saw the forward half
of the ship moved back 17 metres on a specialised
hydraulic skidding system. This resulted in a perfect
joining of the two halves of the ship, with less than a
3mm tolerance down the centre line.
The operation is believed to be a record within the UK
in terms of the weight of ship being skidded.
Tom Niven, Build and Assembly Manager for the ACA,
stated: “While we’ve completed a few of these skidding
operations on the QEC Carriers, this is the final
operation of its type on the programme and the heaviest
section anyone in the world has had to move. It’s
always a particularly delicate and precise procedure,
demonstrating the high-level of engineering skills we
have across the Alliance.”
Angus Holt, HMS Prince of Wales Delivery Director,
added: “To see more than 30,000t of ship skidded in the
dry-dock is an amazing sight and a very proud moment
for the Alliance. The rate at which HMS Prince of Wales
is coming together is also very gratifying; with the team
doing a superb job in ensuring that we keep to our
schedule. This will allow us to complete the assembly
phase of the build by our target date of next year. It
really is the turning point in our build programme.”
“It is all thanks to the
“It is all thanks to the 4,000
4,000 people and
people and hundreds of
hundreds of
apprentices in Scottish
apprentices
shipyards
who have shown
in Scottish
such
commitment
to the
shipyards
Queen
Elizabeth
Class,
who have
supported by £3 billion
shown such
invested
by the MOD in the
commitment to
programme
so far.” Defence
the Queen
Minister
Philip
Dunne.
Elizabeth Class,
supported by £3 billion
invested by the MOD in
the programme so far.”
MOD’s Director of Ship Acquisition, Rear Admiral Henry
Parker, said: “This is a significant step in the assembly of
HMS Prince of Wales and is the culmination of a lot of
hard work on the Clyde where LB04 was built and in
Rosyth where the ship is being assembled. When the
30,000 tonne forward units were “skidded” with the 11,200
tonne block, it was the largest movement of its kind ever
undertaken in the UK.”
Angus Holt, HMS Prince of Wales Delivery Director,
added: “To see more than 26,500t of ship skidded in the
dry-dock is an amazing sight and a very proud moment for
the Alliance. The rate at which HMS Prince of Wales is
coming together is also very gratifying; with the team
doing a superb job in ensuring that we keep to our
schedule. This will allow us to complete the assembly
phase of the build by our target date of next year. It really
is the turning point in our build programme.”
The next stage of the assembly will be to weld the two
sections of the ship together, which will then allow all of
the pipework and the 3.2 million metres of electrical cable
to be connected by the outfitting teams, ahead of
commissioning.
Check out the timelapse video now available on YouTube and see the team I action.
You can also view more images of the operation on Aircraft Carrier Alliance Flickr.
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Ground-breaking radar capability fitted to future
flagship
Rear Admiral Henry Parker, Defence Equipment &
Support Director of Ship Acquisition, said: “The addition of
such an effective system, which has already proved itself
on the Royal Navy’s Type 23 Frigates, will provide HMS
Queen Elizabeth with first-class radar performance. The
construction of the Queen Elizabeth Class carriers has
created and sustained thousands of UK jobs and will act
as a spearhead for our naval capability for years to come.”
The new aircraft carriers will become the flagship of the
Royal Navy and demand the very best radar technology to
deliver uncompromising carrier strike capability anywhere
in the world. The carriers will also be versatile enough to
be used for operations ranging from supporting war efforts
to providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief.
A cutting-edge 3D radar system, capable of detecting
objects as small as a tennis ball and travelling at three
times the speed of sound more than 25Km away, has
been successfully installed to the Royal Navy’s future
aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Known as Artisan 3D the radar system will be used for
the first time to deliver air traffic management, providing
the aircraft carriers with unparalleled awareness and
control of the skies around them. The successful
installation of Artisan took place in late September,
marking another major milestone in the preparation for
sea trials.
BAE Systems designed and developed the Artisan 3D at
its sites in Cowes, Chelmsford and Portsmouth and the
system is currently in use on the Royal Navy Type 23
frigates. Preparations to install the radar system on to
HMS Queen Elizabeth have taken two and a half years
with engineers from BAE Systems working closely with
the Ministry of Defence. Part of this work included creating
a life-sized mock-up of the carriers’ aft island in Cowes
which was used to hone the radar’s interaction with the
combat systems on-board the Queen Elizabeth Class
carriers, to deliver an optimal integrated solution.
The Artisan 3D system designed and developed for the
Aircraft Carrier Alliance by BAE Systems, can monitor
more than 800 objects simultaneously from 200 to
200,000 metres and cut through radio interference
equal to 10,000 mobile phone signals. The radar
system has already proven its capability to deliver
uncompromising air defence and anti-ship operations
on the Type 23 frigate and helicopter carrier.
Les Gregory, Director for
“Artisan is a groundProducts and Training
breaking radar system
Services said:
that delivers real
“Artisan is a groundcapability to the Royal
breaking radar
Navy in its supreme
system that delivers
accuracy and
real capability to the
uncompromising
Royal Navy in its
tracking.” Les Gregory,
supreme accuracy and
Director of Products and
uncompromising tracking.
Training Services.
In addition, its world-leading
electronic protection measure
ensures that even the most
complex of jammers will not reduce its effectiveness.
We have already seen the radar perform excellently on
the Type 23 frigates and are proud to be able to bring
this advanced technology to the Royal Navy’s new
aircraft carriers utilising its air traffic management
capability for the first time.”
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Spotlight on…
Kirsty Noble
ACA Chief of Staff
How did your career bring you to where you are
today, currently working with the Aircraft Carrier
Alliance?
Honestly? A good friend and perfect timing! I had just
been made redundant and a friend of mine was
working with the ACA. She passed on my CV and the
rest is history - as they say!
When did you start working on the QEC
programme and what is your current role?
I started in September 2009 as a Project Assistant to
some of the ACA directors, shortly after that I moved
into communications where I have worked for the last
five years or so as a Communications Associate. I
have recently returned from maternity leave and have
taken on a new role as ACA Chief of Staff.
What does that involve?
One week in and I am trying to work that one out!
Hopefully, I will help to make the Programme
Leadership Team better at what they do. By owning
the PLT calendar and coordinating their engagements,
shaping those engagements by creating a more
structured approach to the way we work, I will assist
them to become more organised and prepared for
meetings and events. Also managing what our key
stakeholders experience when they come to Rosyth
will play a key part.
What are the key challenges in your role?
What could surely be challenging about organising twelve
members of the Programme Leadership Team across
different sites and different businesses? Ask me again in
a few months….
“I don’t think any of us
will realise the
What are you most
significance of what we
proud of about
are working on until
your role?
many years in the
To be honest, I am
future, when we see the
proud to be working
ships in action.” Kirsty
on this programme.
Noble, ACA Chief of
I don’t think any of us
Staff
will realise the
significance of what we are
working on until many years
in the future, when we see the
ships in action. Plus, I’ll lie and tell my children mummy
helped build those big ships!
What has been the highlight of working on the QEC
programme for you?
The 4th of July 2014. I had the pleasure (and pain) of
being part of the steering group responsible for organising
the naming ceremony for HMS Queen Elizabeth. We had
previous experience planning events but nothing so
prestigious with such a large number of high profile
guests. Working on this event shows that alliancing does
work. We were a small group of people from different
businesses that came together and worked extremely
hard to deliver a successful event. The scale of planning
matched the scale of the event, but the experience is one
I will never forget. My ‘Team Naming’ colleagues are now
great friends and we love to reminisce about the highs
and lows in the great War Room!
Finally, what do you do in your spare time?
I have an eight month old and a three year old so I never
have spare time. My days off usually consist of trips to the
park, swimming pool, or play centres! However, in the
constant battle to avoid the middle age spread, I try and
exercise when I can to allow for lunches and cocktails
with the girls!
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HMS Prince of Wales build update
Glasgow UB14
Glasgow LB05
PO1 hotwork programme completed
LB05 has arrived in Rosyth
With the P01 Hotwork Programme completed the focus has
shifted to the completion of painting and screeding of
compartments in order to progress the areas for electrical and
pipe scope.
The block began its journey from Glasgow to Rosyth at the
beginning of the month. This is the last hull section to be
completed by the build yards for QE Class, and the build team is
proud to have been involved in the construction of these iconic
vessels.
Pipe install is now nearing completion. Pressure testing
remains a focus. Electrical cable and equipment installation
remains strong.
LB05 arrives in Rosyth
Compartment interior
Rosyth
SP09 75t heavier
QEC manufacturing has completed block weighing of SP09
and handed the sponson over to the assembly team, with an
impressive increase of 75 tonne of outfitting heavier than HMS
Queen Elizabeth coming in at a total of 570 tonne! It is due to
be erected week 30, which is slightly ahead of schedule for
dock cycle “B”.
Connect with us…
https://mobile.twitter.com/QEClassCarriers
https://www.youtube.com/user/QEClassCarriers
CB06 join up is well under way in EFW operations with
minimum welding left to complete on the flight deck, transom
and 4 deck areas. This will allow block lift Goliath padeyes to
be installed keeping the block on track for block weighing early
in the New Year.
www.flickr.com/photos/qeclasscarriers.
www.aircraftcarrieralliance.co.uk
October has once again seen manufacturing going through a
heavy CHOI period
SP09 is 75t heavier than the block on HMS Queen Elizabeth
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