Queen to name new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth
- Thread starter Blackleaf
- Start date
Thanks for the welcome!
I'll introduce myself properly:
My name is Neil, I am ex-army. I served in the 2nd battalion, parachute regiment (2 para) from 1981 - 1989. I served in the Falklands conflict and did 3 tours of Northern Ireland.
Now run a commercial cleaning business but hoping to retire in next 5 years!
I follow the forums as i have an interest in history and the military.
Please don't, or you'll have me cowering behind the settee in fear.
US Marine? The Girl Guides are harder.
Please don't what....The girl guides are harder? lol... wtf?
At any rate... Do you have any new pictures of the imaginary Brit navy to show us all?
The Girl Guides are tougher than any US "Marine."
Like a lot of Yanks, the US Marines think they have a lot of brawn but seldom have very little brains and are usually as thick as whale omelettes, whereas Royal Marines have both intelligence and muscle.
I've heard that a US Marine's training lasts only 13 weeks, whereas the training even for an ordinary British squaddie lasts for 26 weeks. That's because the US "Marines" are only on a par with an ordinary British squaddie, whereas Royal Marines specialise in mountain and cold weather training. The training for the Royal Marines is the toughest in the world, and many Royal Marines and Paras get picked for the SAS. No US Marine would ever be able to qualify for something like the SAS.
US Marines also usually only stay marines for eight years or so, whereas Royal Marines mainly stay in for life.
So I wouldn't act all tough as a former US Marine. It doesn't wash.
As an ex para, and having met many US marines, I have the utmost respect for them.
Equally so with the Royal Marines though I would never admit it to one!
I've got loads, because the RN is being rebuilt as a 21st Century Navy.
The RFA included. They are getting four new Tide-class tankers.
Daring-class destroyer HMS Diamond fires Sea Viper missile for the first time:
Daring-class destroyer HMS Dragon in action:
Royal Navy 2014:
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Britannia rules the waves: Inside brand new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth that boasts 33-ton propellers twice the size of a double decker bus and a four acre deck
By Gavin Madeley
19 June 2014
Daily Mail
Behind the Scenes Tour of HMS Queen Elizabeth 30.04.14 - YouTube
Standing on the bridge of the mighty HMS Queen Elizabeth, it is the sheer scale of the largest warship in Royal Navy history that hits you.
This hi-tech batcave commands a view that runs for miles from Rosyth, Fife, beyond the seemingly endless flight deck of our newest aircraft carrier and taking in the Forth Bridges and a hazy Edinburgh city centre to the east to the Grangemouth oil refinery and the Ochils in the west.
And yet, given that this is Britain’s biggest engineering project, one has to fight hard not to laugh out loud at the comical size of the ship’s tiny steering wheel.
Workers put finishing touches to the carrier
It is odd to think that this plastic control, that could easily have come from a service-station arcade game, will one day steer a ship powered by two 33-ton propellers, each almost twice the height of a double decker bus.
It is the only small thing about the first of the two new QE Class carriers to come on stream.
Far below the bridge, a veritable army of workers in overalls and hard hats scurry purposefully around this slumbering giant like ants, moving scaffolding, planks, screws, nails, piping and cabling.
In a project fraught with delay and political wrangling, billions of taxpayers’ pounds, 80,000 tons of steel, 3.4million yards of cabling and 90,000 pipe spools have been used as proof that, for the time being at least, Britain can still do shipbuilding.
Small wonder: One has to fight hard not to laugh out loud at the comical size of the ship's tiny steering wheel.
The carrier will finally take to the water next month after her royal namesake travels north for her naming ceremony.
By the end of the decade, she should be fully operational and equipped with 36 F-35B Lightning fighter-bombers.
But, just 16 days before the Queen arrives to break a bottle of champagne against her bulbous bow, a tour of the Rosyth yard reveals a clattering, yammering wall of noise as 1,400 on-site workers weld, fit and hammer around the clock to get the new flagship ready in time.
From the very first glimpse of her, rising up from a high security dry dock at Rosyth like some monstrous CGI creation from a Hollywood blockbuster, everything about her feels vast.
Making waves: The carrier's bulbous bow shape helps the ship to cut through the water
From the keel to the masthead, she stands as tall as Niagara Falls. A phalanx of painters are in the process of applying seven coats of battleship grey paint over an area the size of Hyde Park.
The flight deck measures 306 yards long by 76 yards wide – three times the size of its predecessor HMS Illustrious and as big as four full-size football pitches.
This four-acre flatland is punctuated only by the ‘ski-jump’ take-off ramp and two 650-ton towers, or ‘islands’ (forward for the ship’s command-and-control, aft for air-traffic control).
Standing on the deck yesterday on a sunny June day, the heat was already quite unbearable.
It made one wonder what serving on operations in the sweltering Gulf might feel like.
Queen-size: Size of the new Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier if it was on the River Thames
One deck down, the heat subsided slightly in the gigantic hangar space, which will be home to an assortment of aircraft, with F35Bs eventually parked up next to Merlin Mk2 helicopters, with capacity for Merlin Mk4s, Apaches, Wildcats and Chinooks.
Aircraft can transfer to the flight deck via a huge lifting platform within 60 seconds. Missiles and bombs will be supplied directly to the flight deck from the reinforced armoury by 26 robotic ‘moles’.
The ship is the first of the new breed of QE-class carriers and was originally intended to enter service in 2017, with a sister vessel, the Prince of Wales, joining her by 2020.
Nearly finished: Construction continues on the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier being built in Rosyth. Despite Britain's shipbuilding industry being a shadow of its former self - in the 1890s, Britain had three-quarters of the world's ships and 90% of the world's ships were British-built - the contruction of HMS Queen Elizabeth shows the country is still able to build world class ships
The price of the carriers has soared to £5.3billion – nearly £2billion over-budget – and next year’s Strategic Defence Review will decide whether we keep both or sell the Prince of Wales to recoup some of the costs (it is thought most likely we will keep both).
Six UK yards, including BAE Systems on the Clyde, have fabricated parts of the vessel, with each piece slotted into place at Rosyth.
Some staff have stayed with the build even after their sections were delivered. John McLaughlin, a foreman at BAe Systems, said: ‘I have been commuting to Rosyth from Glasgow for three years now and will be staying until the end.
‘It will be quite emotional when she finally goes out to sea. It’s been a lot of my life and it makes me very proud to be British.'
Read more: HMS Queen Elizabeth launch fast approaches | Mail Online
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
HMS Queen Elizabeth is Britain's biggest engineering project
Two 33-ton propellers are twice the height of a double decker bus
The carrier will finally take to the water next month when the Queen visits
Two 33-ton propellers are twice the height of a double decker bus
The carrier will finally take to the water next month when the Queen visits
By Gavin Madeley
19 June 2014
Daily Mail
Behind the Scenes Tour of HMS Queen Elizabeth 30.04.14 - YouTube
Standing on the bridge of the mighty HMS Queen Elizabeth, it is the sheer scale of the largest warship in Royal Navy history that hits you.
This hi-tech batcave commands a view that runs for miles from Rosyth, Fife, beyond the seemingly endless flight deck of our newest aircraft carrier and taking in the Forth Bridges and a hazy Edinburgh city centre to the east to the Grangemouth oil refinery and the Ochils in the west.
And yet, given that this is Britain’s biggest engineering project, one has to fight hard not to laugh out loud at the comical size of the ship’s tiny steering wheel.
Workers put finishing touches to the carrier
It is odd to think that this plastic control, that could easily have come from a service-station arcade game, will one day steer a ship powered by two 33-ton propellers, each almost twice the height of a double decker bus.
It is the only small thing about the first of the two new QE Class carriers to come on stream.
Far below the bridge, a veritable army of workers in overalls and hard hats scurry purposefully around this slumbering giant like ants, moving scaffolding, planks, screws, nails, piping and cabling.
In a project fraught with delay and political wrangling, billions of taxpayers’ pounds, 80,000 tons of steel, 3.4million yards of cabling and 90,000 pipe spools have been used as proof that, for the time being at least, Britain can still do shipbuilding.
Small wonder: One has to fight hard not to laugh out loud at the comical size of the ship's tiny steering wheel.
The carrier will finally take to the water next month after her royal namesake travels north for her naming ceremony.
By the end of the decade, she should be fully operational and equipped with 36 F-35B Lightning fighter-bombers.
But, just 16 days before the Queen arrives to break a bottle of champagne against her bulbous bow, a tour of the Rosyth yard reveals a clattering, yammering wall of noise as 1,400 on-site workers weld, fit and hammer around the clock to get the new flagship ready in time.
From the very first glimpse of her, rising up from a high security dry dock at Rosyth like some monstrous CGI creation from a Hollywood blockbuster, everything about her feels vast.
Making waves: The carrier's bulbous bow shape helps the ship to cut through the water
From the keel to the masthead, she stands as tall as Niagara Falls. A phalanx of painters are in the process of applying seven coats of battleship grey paint over an area the size of Hyde Park.
The flight deck measures 306 yards long by 76 yards wide – three times the size of its predecessor HMS Illustrious and as big as four full-size football pitches.
This four-acre flatland is punctuated only by the ‘ski-jump’ take-off ramp and two 650-ton towers, or ‘islands’ (forward for the ship’s command-and-control, aft for air-traffic control).
Standing on the deck yesterday on a sunny June day, the heat was already quite unbearable.
It made one wonder what serving on operations in the sweltering Gulf might feel like.
Queen-size: Size of the new Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier if it was on the River Thames
One deck down, the heat subsided slightly in the gigantic hangar space, which will be home to an assortment of aircraft, with F35Bs eventually parked up next to Merlin Mk2 helicopters, with capacity for Merlin Mk4s, Apaches, Wildcats and Chinooks.
Aircraft can transfer to the flight deck via a huge lifting platform within 60 seconds. Missiles and bombs will be supplied directly to the flight deck from the reinforced armoury by 26 robotic ‘moles’.
The ship is the first of the new breed of QE-class carriers and was originally intended to enter service in 2017, with a sister vessel, the Prince of Wales, joining her by 2020.
Nearly finished: Construction continues on the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier being built in Rosyth. Despite Britain's shipbuilding industry being a shadow of its former self - in the 1890s, Britain had three-quarters of the world's ships and 90% of the world's ships were British-built - the contruction of HMS Queen Elizabeth shows the country is still able to build world class ships
The price of the carriers has soared to £5.3billion – nearly £2billion over-budget – and next year’s Strategic Defence Review will decide whether we keep both or sell the Prince of Wales to recoup some of the costs (it is thought most likely we will keep both).
Six UK yards, including BAE Systems on the Clyde, have fabricated parts of the vessel, with each piece slotted into place at Rosyth.
Some staff have stayed with the build even after their sections were delivered. John McLaughlin, a foreman at BAe Systems, said: ‘I have been commuting to Rosyth from Glasgow for three years now and will be staying until the end.
‘It will be quite emotional when she finally goes out to sea. It’s been a lot of my life and it makes me very proud to be British.'
Read more: HMS Queen Elizabeth launch fast approaches | Mail Online
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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I suppose it will be equiped with F-35's of the limey variant. That of course will ensure a short wet life for the giant target. Sunburn bait,zzzzzzzzzzzboom.
Come on Eagle. You are better than cheap shots like that.
And complete bxxxxxxxs too.