Artist depiction of the Queen Elizabeth class CATOBAR design |
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| Career (United Kingdom) | |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 20 May 2008 |
| Builder: | BAE Systems Surface Ships Thales Group Babcock Marine |
| Laid down: | 26 May 2011[1] |
| Homeport: | HMNB Portsmouth |
| Identification: | IMO number: 4907907 |
| Motto: | Ich Dien ("I Serve") |
| Status: | Expected to enter service in 2018[2] |
| Badge: | |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | 65,600 tonnes (64,600 long tons)[3] |
| Length: | 284 metres (932 ft) |
| Beam: | 39 metres (waterline) 73 metres overall |
| Draught: | 11 metres[4] |
| Decks: | 16,000 square metres |
| Speed: | 25 knots (46 km/h) |
| Range: | 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km) |
| Capacity: | 1,450 |
| Complement: | 600 |
| Armament: | Phalanx CIWS 30mm guns and mini-guns to counter asymmetric threats.[5] |
| Aircraft carried: |
Tailored air group of up to 40 aircraft:
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| Aviation facilities: | Hangar below deck and two aircraft lifts. |
HMS Prince of Wales will be the second of the Royal Navy's two Queen Elizabeth class supercarriers and is scheduled to enter service in 2018 equipped in the CATOBAR configuration. The ship will be assembled at Rosyth Royal Dockyard using blocks built by participating shipyards. Once in service the ship will be officially affiliated with the city of Liverpool, in the United Kingdom. Construction began in May 2011 with the first steel being cut by Dr Liam Fox on 26 May.[1]
The Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers are the largest, most powerful surface ships Britain has ever built. They are unique amongst aircraft carriers of the world in the positioning of the ships' flight controls, separate (behind) the ships' main bridges. On 25 November 2011, the First Sea Lord announced that under present planning the Prince of Wales would be the navy's only CATOBAR equipped carrier.[7]
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The second Queen Elizabeth class ship was given the name Prince of Wales at the same time as her sister ship received the name Queen Elizabeth. However, controversy over the decommissioning of HMS Ark Royal under the terms of the SDSR in 2011, and the subsequent loss of the name Ark Royal led to a campaign for one of the new aircraft carriers to receive it. In May 2011, reports surfaced that HRH The Prince of Wales had been approached by a senior Royal Navy officer on the subject of changing the name of Prince of Wales to Ark Royal, a matter that the Prince of Wales was reportedly "fairly relaxed" about.[8]
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, fifth generation multi-role fighters under development to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defence missions with stealth capability. he F-35C carrier variant features larger wings with fold-able wing-tip sections, larger wing and tail control surfaces for improved low-speed control, stronger landing gear for the stresses of carrier arrested landings, a twin-wheel nose gear, and a stronger tail-hook for use with carrier arrestor cables. The F-35 has been designed to have a low radar cross section primarily due to stealthy materials used in construction, including fibre mat.
On 19 October 2010, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the UK would order the carrier variant (F-35C) and that the carrier design would be modified to use a catapult launch and arrestor recovery (CATOBAR) system to allow for the launch and recovery of these aircraft.[9] The F-35C variant has a greater range and the ability to carry a larger and more diverse payload.[10]
An improved version of the Westland Super Lynx military helicopter, the Lynx WIldcat, entering service with the Royal Navy in 2015, will doubtless make up a significant number of the helicopters aboard both Queen Elizabeth class carriers. It will have room for seven passengers, a top speed of 187 mph and a range of 520 {{nmi. It will be armed with forward firing CRV7 rockets and machine guns, pintle mounted machine gun (eg FN MAG or Browning M2), Air-to-Surface Missile system: Thales Lightweight Multi-Role Missile (LMM),[14] possibly Hellfire[15] and Torpedoes and depth charges.
The Merlin is a medium-lift helicopter that performs a wide variety of functions for the Royal Navy. It performs exceptionallycn}} in an Anti-Submarine role. A chin forward looking infra-red (FLIR) is fitted to some variants.[24] The AW101 (excluding the ASM MK1) is equipped with chaff and flare dispensers, directed infra-red countermeasures (infra-red jammers), ESM (electronic support measures, in the form of RF [radio frequency] heads), and a laser detection and warning system. It has two hard points for weapon carriers, on which the HM Mk1 model can carry four Sting Ray torpedoes or Mk 11 Mod 3 depth charges, though at present cannot use the Sea Skua missile. The Mk1, Mk3 and 3a variants can mount General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs) in up to 5 locations in the main cabin pointing out of door and window apertures.
Royal Navy Merlins have seen action in the Caribbean, on counter-narcotics and hurricane support duties. They have also been active in Iraq, providing support to British and coalition troops on the ground, as well as maritime security duties in the North Persian Gulf.
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