Ship building.

[Carruthers]

HMS Prince of Wales hull weighing 11,000 tonnes moves out dock hall.



An 11,000-tonne section of one of the Royal Navy's under-construction aircraft carriers has been moved out of its dock hall for the first time.

The largest section of HMS Prince of Wales was driven out of the hall at the BAE Systems shipyard in Govan at 1mph using nearly 2000 wheels and a single remote control.

Over the weekend the large hull section will be moved on to a barge, where it will remain until late August when it will set off on a sea journey around the north of Scotland and down to Rosyth in Fife for assembly.

The Aircraft Carrier Alliance began construction work on the structure at Govan in December 2013.

HMS Prince of Wales is the second Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier being built for the Royal Navy.

Its sister ship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, was the first to begin construction and could have jets flying off it by the end of 2018.

Those behind the project, which is estimated to cost more than £6bn overall, say the QE Class will be the centrepiece of Britain's naval capability.

Each 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier will provide the armed forces with a four-acre military operating base which can be deployed worldwide.

The vessels are designed to be versatile enough to support war efforts or provide humanitarian aid and disaster relief.


The Scotsman


Now, I am neither a naval architect nor an engineer, but seeing the manner in which this vessel is being constructed gives rise to the suspicion that it is being built to a budget and not to a specification..
I assume that the sections will be bolted and welded together which must be a less than optimal solution.
It surely will result in a hull that is weaker than one constructed by laying down a keel, building ribs and hot riveting steel plates to the basic structure.
Anyway, that’s just my observations on the subject.
You will probably find the BBC report somewhat more interesting.

BBC