UK: Queen Elizabeth’s Second Island Completed at Scotstoun Yard

This is the second island of the Navy’s next-generation aircraft carrier emerging from the shed where it was built for the first time.

From this 753-tonne structure, flight deck operations on HMS Queen Elizabeth will be directed: this is Flyco – Flying Control, effectively the carrier’s equivalent of an airport control tower.

Workers at BAE’s Scotstoun yard on the north bank of the Clyde have completed the iconic structure; it’s now being prepared for its journey from Glasgow’s great artery to the rest of the ship, which stands more than two-thirds complete at Rosyth.

The forward island was installed in April after a journey from Portsmouth. It houses the ship’s bridge and 100 or so other compartments.

The aft island is slightly heavier and larger: 52m (170ft) long, 14m (46ft) wide and 31m (101ft 6in) high.

Inside are some 110 compartments, 1,000 pipes and 44km (27 miles – or just longer than a marathon) of cabling.

The section is due to be moved around Scotland by barge in mid-June and then fixed into place on the flight deck at the end of the month.

That’s not quite Queen Elizabeth complete outwardly. Still to be added are her ski ramp to launch her F35 jump jets and a few final sponsons to finish the flight deck.

In a few weeks’ time, the team from the Aircraft Carrier Alliance will begin to give the carrier her battleship grey appearance; right now she’s a mish-mash of colours, with the flight deck a very un-RN-like crimson.

Although the islands are painted grey, they’ve yet to have the final coat of paint applied. Indeed, the only part of the ship which is in the final livery are the window frames on the forward island – and that’s because the panes had to be installed.

In all, Queen Elizabeth requires 1½ million square metres (over 16 million square feet) of paintwork… which is slightly larger than Hyde Park.

[mappress]
Press Release, May 13, 2013