Final part of aircraft carrier arrives at dockyard (From Daily Echo)

Last piece of HMS Queen Elizabeth floats under Forth bridges

2:19pm Sunday 11th November 2012 in News

THE FINAL hull section of aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth which will be based in Hamsphire has arrived at Babcock’s Rosyth dockyard.

The 11,300 tonne aft section of hull, known as Lower Block 04 (LB04), made its way under the Forth Bridges shortly before 11am today.

It left BAE Systems’ yard on the Clyde last Sunday.

The section has travelled all the way around the south coast to reach the Fife assembly site, a journey of more than 1,200 miles.

The block is the largest section of HMS Queen Elizabeth, which will be based at Portsmouth.

She is the first of two new aircraft carriers being constructed by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance.

Programme Director, Ian Booth, said: “LB04 is the largest section of HMS Queen Elizabeth, and the final part of the hull to make the journey to the assembly site. This marks a huge milestone for the programme to deliver the nation’s flagships.

“Now it is at Rosyth the hard work continues as we begin the massive task of joining it to the sections of HMS Queen Elizabeth already in place.”

A complex engineering effort will shortly begin to float the block off the specialist barge and move it into position in the dock. Once in place the dock will be drained and work to start integrating the sections will begin.

The aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales are being delivered by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, a unique partnering relationship between BAE Systems, Thales UK, Babcock and the UK Ministry of Defence.