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HMS Queen Elizabeth Sea Trials


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14 minutes ago, Dave Fleming said:

Rumours that she may need to dry dock to fix this propeller issue. Some say caused by fouling, others by manufacturing outwith permitted tolerance.

QE can't be dry docked at the moment as the only dock that can accommodate her has Prince of Wales in it! That is why the propeller blades had to be fitted by divers rather than in a dry dock after the basin trials. But lets be clear here, the ship is on sea trials and their whole purpose is to expose and bottom out issues like this.

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3 hours ago, Paul E said:

The ship is Fit to Receive Phalanx CIWS and consideration was made in the early design stages for the SeaRAM whether this come to fruition or not  is another question.

 

 

Isn't she intended to have just 3 phalanxes and 4 30mm guns?

 

In all honesty, I was surprised to see that that is all the armament fitted. 

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3 minutes ago, Whofan said:

 

 

Isn't she intended to have just 3 phalanxes and 4 30mm guns?

 

In all honesty, I was surprised to see that that is all the armament fitted. 

Yes, the weapons are placed for 360 degree coverage. Phalanx is intended to stop leakers that get past the Type 45 in the outer screen and the inner screen of Sea Ceptor armed frigates. The 30mm guns are for dealing with asymmetric threats like those faced by USS Cole. It is bad form to shoot small inflatable boats carrying bombs with depleted uranium when 30mm HE will do!  

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Seems like the builder's trials have served their purpose, then. Hopefully, a reasonably simple remediation. No doubt this will be viewed as a setback by the anti-carrier crowd and fashioned into a crude weapon to beat UK carrier aviation over the head with. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 19/07/2017 at 4:40 PM, Paul E said:

QE can't be dry docked at the moment as the only dock that can accommodate her has Prince of Wales in it! That is why the propeller blades had to be fitted by divers rather than in a dry dock after the basin trials. But lets be clear here, the ship is on sea trials and their whole purpose is to expose and bottom out issues like this.

 

Seems like they have sorted the issue judging by the trials at present.

 

There is the question of whether the Rosyth dry dock is big enough to take a fully fitted out carrier. Local rumour at the time was that was one reason for floating out when they did, that there was insufficient displacement in the dock .

 

Current scuttlebutt has her heading to Portsmouth much earlier than initially planned.

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  • 2 weeks later...

For pictures of QE arrival in to Portsmouth please see "HMS Queen Elizabeth to enter Pompey tomorrow" in General Maritime modelling chat forum.

 

Thank you

 

RR                  

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On 3/17/2018 at 12:56 PM, ian buick said:

Sweet! :yes:

 

 

 

 

Did anyone else watch these programmes?

 

Some interesting insights into the builds of the ship, and the absolute plethora of computerised systems.

 

Fairly frank coverage of problems, including the propeller issue mentioned in posts earlier; the damage was caused ultimately by a rubber seal stripping from a blade mount.

 

One of the moments of the 3 programmes was the look on an officer's face during drills at the dockside when a genuine emergency was declared, a flood in the high voltage area.

 

Another moment which did annoy me was the sailor who was part of the armed response/guard team on rifle firing drill, who couldn't seem to get her helmet tightened up properly, which meant she couldn't fire the rifle (practice drill only!) and the DI said nothing.

 

The commentary was a bit naff, but overall, an interesting and pretty informative (within I am sure security boundaries) set of programmes, still available on BBC iPlayer.

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1 hour ago, Whofan said:

Another moment which did annoy me was the sailor who was part of the armed response/guard team on rifle firing drill, who couldn't seem to get her helmet tightened up properly, which meant she couldn't fire the rifle (practice drill only!) and the DI said nothing.

I bet she did off camera!

 

Martian 👽

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On ‎11‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 09:02, ivan-o said:

Bit of an odd statement from the crew member as well 'guns are not my thing'! now who would have thought that in an armed service! 🤣

That's going to be a bit difficult if the are called upon to fight!

 

Martian 👽

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I happen to agree, guns are hardly my thing either and I was a Weapon Engineer!

 

There is more to serving in the Royal Navy than toting personal military hardware like Rambo. Free foreign cruises in the sun being one. 😎

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2 hours ago, Paul E said:

I happen to agree, guns are hardly my thing either and I was a Weapon Engineer!

 

There is more to serving in the Royal Navy than toting personal military hardware like Rambo. Free foreign cruises in the sun being one. 😎

Yep good points but this steward was assigned to the party that is supposed to repel boarders in the unlikely event of any scrotes getting on board. As in any armed service surely basic weapons training is required!

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Seeming as I was once the physical security design lead for the carriers I can assure you it will be difficult for scrotes to get on board so I certainly hope there will be no need for the RF team to brandish their weapons for real, otherwise I have done my job wrong!

 

All sailors have to do weapons training just like fire training. It is part and parcel of being in a disciplined armed service, just because guns aren't mine or that particular ratings thing doesn't mean that we wouldn't use them in the course of our duty if we were called upon to do so. To be honest I would be more worried about the gung ho types.

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That was the point though although 'guns are not her thing', She looked utterly incapable of being able to react to any situation with her kit hanging off and the level of basic skills that was displayed!

Not a very good advert at all.

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1 hour ago, ivan-o said:

That was the point though although 'guns are not her thing', She looked utterly incapable of being able to react to any situation with her kit hanging off and the level of basic skills that was displayed!

Not a very good advert at all.

 

I must agree, it’s a ND waiting to happen in my book, the ill fitting helmet didn’t help as it slipped down over her eyes and the general uncomfortable look she had would make me very nervous if I had to work with her.

A boat load load of further weapon training and a lesson or two on how to sort out PLCE and helmet. 

Any service person who has to carry a live weapon as part of their role no matter how often should have a very high level of training and be very confident and skilled in its use. 

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