Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers

[Hoskins]

But there will be those who would suggest the UK's diminished military power makes carriers unnecessary.

This is such a lame argument.

The military power of a country is diminished... so let's prevent it from strengthening and keep it diminished. Typical "Britain is a small, weak and pointless country so let's not bother any more" line of thinking which has plagued this country since the 1950s. And exactly the sort of thinking which holds us back and if anything makes matters worse.

The carriers are necessary exactly because the armed forces are diminished - they will bolster them like no conventional (ie non-nuclear) asset has done for decades. Everything is slowly falling into place in creating a small but effective expeditionary military: a smaller army based on mobility and eilite, battle-hardened troops; a navy centred on aircraft carriers with excellent supporting ships (the Type 45s, the Astute SSNs, the Type 26s too eventually, the new auxiliaries that will arrive by 2020, the Bays and the Albion/Bulwark amphibs...); and an air force with a combination of 4.5Gen and 5th Gen jets, around 170 in total, of which the latter can be used on the navy's carriers. And of course the ultimate home defence insurance policy: SSBN-based nuclear deterrent. How many countries will have such a military in the 2020s? 5 or 6 in the world at most I'd imagine (US, France, UK, China, perhaps India, perhaps Russia).

So, "diminished" my arse - the journalists spend too much time comparing the British forces with that of the USA, ignoring the rest of the world, and of course ignoring that for our size Britain punches way above its weight still. You also cannot compare things now with 100 years ago - obviously our military is diminished compared to then, but only because of obvious things such as the world catching up with Britain technologically, demographics changing (eg the US now being 5x our population), and our government spending its money on other things such as healthcare. Yet despite all that, because so many other countries are even more useless than we are, we still have a top 5 military in the world.

[AXISPAW]

Yep. The even more annoying thing is that the average Brit has had too much choice for too long now and still wants everything for free. Then once an article slamming defence procurement stating were wasting billions on unnecessary defence projects is written, they become easy targets for the public to hate all the while not realising that its because of our strong military that they have the choice and freedom they have. Idiots..

[madjackmcmad]

Be fair, being a Beeb journo is seen as a stepping stone for working at the Guardian these days!

[Pompey77]

Or for Boris Johnson

[gothicform]

Originally Posted by madjackmcmad

Be fair, being a Beeb journo is seen as a stepping stone for working at the Guardian these days!

speaking as a telegraph columnist, does that mean i started off at sky?

[WatcherZero]

Daily Mail or the Mirror?

[Core Rising]

More like the Evening Standard

[madjackmcmad]

Originally Posted by gothicform

speaking as a telegraph columnist, does that mean i started off at sky?

As you are probably more than aware, my comment is a deliberate mass generalisation

A Telegraph columnist makes you likely to be an army suck up! (I realise you're not a defence columnist, I saw your article!)

[madjackmcmad]

Actually, reading the highest rated comments on that article is encouraging.

There are the usual hand wringing lentil eating sandal wearers, but encouraging nonetheless.

[Pompey77]

image hosted on flickr

Moving the forward island May 25, 2012 by QEClassCarriers, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Moving the forward island May 25, 2012 by QEClassCarriers, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Moving the forward island May 25, 2012 by QEClassCarriers, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Moving the forward island May 25, 2012 by QEClassCarriers, on Flickr

[madjackmcmad]

Cracking pics!

The last one resembles the Jawa slave sandcrawler from starwars

[Pompey77]

image hosted on flickr

Babcock's No 1 Dock partially flooded by QEClassCarriers, on Flickr

[Vanguard]

Why the water?

[CarMadMike]

Originally Posted by Vanguard

Why the water?

It's about to be floated out, for LBO2 (The 6000 ton block pictured earlier in the thread) to be floated in ahead of it.

Not sure when any of this is going to happen, judging by the water very soon. Should make for some interesting pictures.

[uk2030]

LB02 will move into the dock at the weekend according to the offical twitter page

http://twitter.com/#!/QEClassCarriers

[AXISPAW]

Originally Posted by CarMadMike

It's about to be floated out, for LBO2 (The 6000 ton block pictured earlier in the thread) to be floated in ahead of it.

Not sure when any of this is going to happen, judging by the water very soon. Should make for some interesting pictures.

Will be done by end of the week :-)

[CarMadMike]

There's a picture of the block that'll be moved into the dry dock

[madjackmcmad]

Would be intrigued to know what they are sealing the ends with to make it watertight.

[AXISPAW]

Originally Posted by madjackmcmad

Would be intrigued to know what they are sealing the ends with to make it watertight.

An insane amount of welding?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by madjackmcmad

Would be intrigued to know what they are sealing the ends with to make it watertight.

wouldn't they just be the same steel divisions that will ultimately make-up the individual watertight bulkheads within the hull?

in any event, fantastic pics of the floating hull sections and island construction.