HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Methinks I may have to arrange an extra watch in my little tower then! :cool::encouragement:

Hmm, I'm not sure I'd want to get that close to the action, the first time they bring her in. There's been some discussion amongst my neighbours regarding whether the Still & West will get flooded out when she passes. Memories of the last Ohio visit are still fresh in some of our minds......
 
Hmm, I'm not sure I'd want to get that close to the action, the first time they bring her in. There's been some discussion amongst my neighbours regarding whether the Still & West will get flooded out when she passes. Memories of the last Ohio visit are still fresh in some of our minds......

I think Giblets would be immune to flooding in his land-based crow's nest. :)
 
I think Giblets would be immune to flooding in his land-based crow's nest. :)

:D:D If I get flooded up there there won't be much hope for Pompy or Gosport!!!! Just got to make sure the bloody thing doesn't clout the tower when it comes in - only 23m clearance on each side supposedly!

And I believe the maximum wind speed is 20knots.
 
:D:D If I get flooded up there there won't be much hope for Pompy or Gosport!!!! Just got to make sure the bloody thing doesn't clout the tower when it comes in - only 23m clearance on each side supposedly!

And I believe the maximum wind speed is 20knots.

Bloody hell - if it floods Gosport to a depth of 2 or 3 metres the repair and compensation bill could be over a pound. Maybe even £2.
 
:D:D If I get flooded up there there won't be much hope for Pompy or Gosport!!!! Just got to make sure the bloody thing doesn't clout the tower when it comes in - only 23m clearance on each side supposedly!

And I believe the maximum wind speed is 20knots.

Believe HMS Vanguard clouted he towers on her way to the breakers yard. Vividly remember my one day on board as a visiting sprog - awesome!

Now there was a real ship.
 
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I'm not a huge F-35 fan, but to be fair I wouldn't expect aircraft other than the odd helicopter on a new carrier on what amounts to her delivery trip; I doubt our old big carriers like the Phantom & Buccaneer Ark Royal, or the American jobs, started off with fixed wing aircraft craned onboard.

Given the size of HMS QE it seems a huge shame she isn't cat & trap equipped so is unable to take conventional American or French aircraft; STOVL really comes into its own on small decks - but there was the BS about ' cats & traps easily fitted later ' when that turned out to be untrue.
 
Perhaps I need glasses....but I can't see any planes on the deck ...

No optician visit required. In a complex and intense training programme, they will not be embarked for some more months.

In the intervening time, around 100 pilots have been training on the ten aircraft owned by the UK and their groundcrew. 60 RN personnel have been embarked in a US carrier directing a big maritime Excercise to train in using carrier air power. Another contingent has just finished a long Excercise on a French amphibious ship that deployed to the Pacific.

A Huge amount of manpower and time is being invested in making sure that tax payer investment is being used to the max.

Aircraft will be embarked when the vessel deploys to the US early next year and the first operational deployment looks like being to the Far East in 2020.

They are not messing about, it's not a skateboard.......
 
Believe HMS Vanguard clouted he towers on her way to the breakers yard. Vividly remember my one day on board as a visiting sprog - awesome!

Now there was a real ship.

Ahhh the mighty Vanguard.
Another white elephant in a long line of obsolete ships built by the RN.
I fear the two new carriers will be the same,great ships but 40 years too late to be anything other than a liability sucking resources away from where they would be useful.
 
Which bit is nonsense?The bit about Vanguard or the bit about the carriers?And what is defeatist about suggesting resources could be better spent elsewhere?
 
Ahhh the mighty Vanguard.
Another white elephant in a long line of obsolete ships built by the RN.
I fear the two new carriers will be the same,great ships but 40 years too late to be anything other than a liability sucking resources away from where they would be useful.

Not entirely a white elephant. In the late 40s and the 50s the main above water threat faced by the RN as part of NATO was perceived to be the numerous Soviet Sverdlov class cruisers designed to disrupt reinforcement convoys from the US. The main counter was intended to be carrier borne strike aircraft, particularly the Buccaneer. Battleships offered two functions in this context, initially as AA platforms within a carrier group (as in the USN) and then as a last resort surface gun platform, as all RN cruisers were of essentially pre war design and not up to the job.

Things moved on, and the money and the manpower ran out, so first the four KGVs and then Vanguard went for razor blades
 
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