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HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH n five years’ time, if everything goes according Ito plan, the Royal Navy’s first dedicated aircraft carrier for decades should be sailing out of Portsmouth Naval Base ready for action, loaded with Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II short take-off/vertical landing jets and AgustaWestland Merlin HM2 helicopters. Getting HMS Queen Elizabeth and its sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales to the point where they are almost complete in Rosyth dockyard, has taken almost two decades of work and, crucially, political manoeuvring. Simply building the ships has cost more than £6 billion and, not surprisingly, the two carriers will be at the heart of British defence planning for the foreseeable future. Within months another aircraft carrier, in the Mediterranean literally overnight. Carrier Pedigree HMS Furious, was under construction and in The potency of British naval airpower The Navy has more than 103 years’ experience 1917 Squadron Commander Edwin Harris was demonstrated again six months later, in operating aircraft from ships, dating back Dunning made the first landing on the ship, as when Swordfish launched from the second to May 9, 1912, when Commander Charles it was under way in Scapa Flow off Orkney. carrier to bear the name HMS Ark Royal Rumney Samson became the first airman to In the 1920s and 1930s the Royal Navy found and crippled the mighty German take off from a moving warship. His Short S.38 experimented with larger and better carriers, battleship B ismarck in the North Atlantic. lifted off from the battleship HMS Hibernia also developing aircraft and weapons to fly from The golden age of British aircraft carriers in as it steamed at 15kts (28km/h) during the them. It was a period of naval warfare transition the 1950s and 1960s saw the Navy fielding Royal Fleet Review at Weymouth, England. between the dominance of the battleship and jet fighters, airborne early warning aircraft Just over two years later, the Navy launched the rise of the aircraft carrier. Revolutionary and anti-submarine helicopters from their the first ever warship dedicated to operating thinkers in navies around the world could see decks. During the period the Royal Navy aircraft. Named HMS Ark Royal, it had been the potential of the carrier and embarked air introduced the angled flight deck, allowing lain down as a merchant ship, but midway wing, but their ideas had yet to be tried in battle. simultaneous launch and recovery of jet aircraft. through its construction the Admiralty acquired This changed on November 11, 1940 when Admiralty ambitions to build a it, fitting a flat deck and cranes so seaplanes HMS Illustrious launched a strike force of Fairey 63,000-ton supercarrier, CVA 01, could be launched and recovered. Swordfish torpedo bombers to attack the main in the 1960s were scuppered port of the Italian fleet at Taranto. The daring by defence cuts and the strike took the Italians by surprise and, within service instead set in minutes, half the fleet was at the bottom of the train plans to build harbour. Only two Swordfish were lost, the the three new attack changing the balance of naval power Invincible- Below: HMS Queen Elizabeth (R 08) at Rosyth dockyard, Scotland, following her naming ceremony on July 4, 2015. The F-35B on the ski-jump is a full-scale mock-up brought in for the occassion. MOD Crown Copyright/CPOA(Phot) Thomas Tam McDonald 36 DECEMBER 2015 #333 www.airforcesmonthly.com HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH The Royal Navy’s new carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth is on track for completion next year. Tim Ripley RULING THE reports. WAVES AGAIN... class through-deck cruisers (aircraft carriers 2007, with first metal cut at Rosyth and several Carrier Capability in all but name). These 22,000-ton carriers other shipyards around Britain. Escalating costs HMS Queen Elizabeth is now 70% complete, became inextricably linked with the 1982 and technical problems delayed the work and in with power systems up and running and radar Falklands War and iconic Sea Harrier the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review turning. The Royal Navy is deciding how the fighter, HMS Invincible and Illustrious both (SDSR) the Navy had to sacrifice its ship and its air wing will be utilised. The crew is deploying south to join combat. last operational carrier, HMS Ark already aboard preparing for In the 1990s, the Royal Navy began Royal, to help find the money to sea trials next August and the working up designs for what became the sustain the new carrier programme. ship is planned to ‘undock’ in Queen Elizabeth-class and in the 1998 April 2017, before handover Strategic Defence Review the government a month later. HMS Prince of of Prime Minister Tony Blair gave the Wales is scheduled to enter formal go-ahead for research and service in 2020. development to begin. Almost a decade passed before the design was finalised and contracts were eventually placed in ‘the two carriers will be at the heart of British defence planning for the foreseeable future.’ www.airforcesdaily.com #333 DECEMBER 2015 37 HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH ‘With both carriers in service one will always be ready to conduct operations with at least a squadron of F-35Bs embarked.’ Rear Admiral Keith Blount, Assistant Chief of an air offensive using the F-35B’s ‘day-one’ waters against a lightly armed opponent, Naval Staff (Aviation, Amphibious Capability stealth capability to knock down enemy air insurgents or pirates, or within a humanitarian and Carriers), is the senior reporting officer for defences, with Raytheon BGM-109 Tomahawk mission. It combines a Royal Marines landing the carrier programme and responsible for Land Attack Missile strikes from Astute-class force with a full spectrum of helicopter support, the ships’ entry into service. He told a briefing nuclear submarines or surface ships. including Chinook HC4/5/6 and Merlin HC4 at the 2015 Defence & Security Equipment The carrier strike force mix could be ‘plug- transports to lift troops and their supplies International event that carriers were: “Not and-play’, said RAdm Blount, including US ashore. The offensive element includes just naval assets but capabilities that can be Marine Corps F-35Bs operating from the new capabilities to find and strike land and used to support army and air force operations. carriers; the Crowsnest airborne early warning sea targets, with Apache AH1 attack, Britain still has a global foreign policy and we system, fitted to Merlin maritime helicopters, Wildcat AH1 scout and Merlin HM2 are free to move the carriers where we want”. will be an integral part of the capability. maritime surveillance helicopters. In September 2014, Prime Minister David Meanwhile, Merlin HM2s would create an Cameron marked a key decision in the carrier anti-submarine screen and perform surface High Gear Preparation programme when he committed the Navy to surveillance around the maritime task group. With the months counting down to HMS Queen standing up a “Continuous carrier capability”. Next, the rear admiral discussed the Elizabeth sailing out of Rosyth, RAdm Blount The government had previously been unclear Expeditionary Strike concept, involving the and his colleagues are moving preparations whether HMS Prince of Wales would enter embarkation of a squadron of F-35Bs and into high gear, ready to accept the vessel service, leaving the Royal Navy taking ‘carrier Royal Marine Commandos, with transport into service in 2017. The project will gain strike capability holidays’ when HMS Queen helicopters to take the troops ashore. This momentum, since a series of critical milestones Elizabeth had to go into dock for refit or repair. force mix is intended to place a landing party have to be passed in quick succession for a With both carriers in service one will always ashore in the face of a determined enemy, credible front line capability to be fielded. be ready to conduct operations with at the F-35Bs providing close air support. If a The Military Aviation Authority will be heavily least a squadron of F-35Bs embarked. The suitable airstrip were secured, the F-35Bs involved, ensuring the ship and its embarked other ship could then be in refit, carrying could disembark and continue to support aircraft can perform safely under operational out work-up training or employed as a the amphibious assault as it moves inland. conditions. Gaining release to service for aircraft commando carrier for the Royal Marines, Littoral Manoeuvre is the third operational flying from HMS Queen Elizabeth is an essential with transport helicopters embarked. concept, envisaged as a mission in coastal ‘tick in the box’ and an extensive flight-test The Royal Navy is making plans for a readiness cycle to synchronise this activity from the end of the decade, managing availability and ensuring fixed-wing and helicopter squadrons are ready to operate from the vessels. According to Rear Admiral Blount, the carriers will always sail within a maritime task group including warships and support vessels. This protects them and makes them self-sustaining far out to sea, without support from land-based assets. This is the classic embodiment of aircraft carriers, as mobile sovereign airfields that can be moved around the world unencumbered by the need to remain within range of land-based aircraft. He added: “The carriers will change the way the Royal Navy operates.” The Navy is working on three main concepts of carrier operations to give future the UK a wide range of strategic options. They will be conducted nationally or in coalition operations. The first core mission, Carrier Strike is a classic power projection mission to launch offensive air operations against opponents with modern integrated air defence networks. This could combine air attacks in the opening hours of 38 DECEMBER 2015 #333 HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH Left: The second UK F-35B Lightning II, ZM136, takes off from Eglin AFB, Florida, on May 20, 2013.
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