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HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH
I
n five years’ time, if everything goes according
to 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.
Carrier Pedigree
The Navy has more than 103 years’ experience
in operating aircraft from ships, dating back
to May 9, 1912, when Commander Charles
Rumney Samson became the first airman to
take off from a moving warship. His Short S.38
lifted off from the battleship HMS Hibernia
as it steamed at 15kts (28km/h) during the
Royal Fleet Review at Weymouth, England.
Just over two years later, the Navy launched
the first ever warship dedicated to operating
aircraft. Named HMS Ark Royal, it had been
lain down as a merchant ship, but midway
through its construction the Admiralty acquired
it, fitting a flat deck and cranes so seaplanes
could be launched and recovered.
Within months another aircraft carrier,
HMS Furious, was under construction and in
1917 Squadron Commander Edwin Harris
Dunning made the first landing on the ship, as
it was under way in Scapa Flow off Orkney.
In the 1920s and 1930s the Royal Navy
experimented with larger and better carriers,
also developing aircraft and weapons to fly from
them. It was a period of naval warfare transition
between the dominance of the battleship and
the rise of the aircraft carrier. Revolutionary
thinkers in navies around the world could see
the potential of the carrier and embarked air
wing, but their ideas had yet to be tried in battle.
This changed on November 11, 1940 when
HMS Illustrious launched a strike force of Fairey
Swordfish torpedo bombers to attack the main
port of the Italian fleet at Taranto. The daring
strike took the Italians by surprise and, within
minutes, half the fleet was at the bottom of the
harbour. Only two Swordfish were lost, the
attack changing the balance of naval power
in the Mediterranean literally overnight.
The potency of British naval airpower
was demonstrated again six months later,
when Swordfish launched from the second
carrier to bear the name HMS Ark Royal
found and crippled the mighty German
battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic.
The golden age of British aircraft carriers in
the 1950s and 1960s saw the Navy fielding
jet fighters, airborne early warning aircraft
and anti-submarine helicopters from their
decks. During the period the Royal Navy
introduced the angled flight deck, allowing
simultaneous launch and recovery of jet aircraft.
Admiralty ambitions to build a
63,000-ton supercarrier, CVA 01,
in the 1960s were scuppered
by defence cuts and the
service instead set in
train plans to build
the three new
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
RULING THE
WAVES AGAIN...
The Royal Navy’s new
carrier, HMS Queen
Elizabeth is on track
for completion next
year. Tim Ripley
reports.
class through-deck cruisers (aircraft carriers
in all but name). These 22,000-ton carriers
became inextricably linked with the 1982
Falklands War and iconic Sea Harrier
fighter, HMS Invincible and Illustrious both
deploying south to join combat.
In the 1990s, the Royal Navy began
working up designs for what became the
Queen Elizabeth-class and in the 1998
Strategic Defence Review the government
of Prime Minister Tony Blair gave the
formal go-ahead for research and
development to begin. Almost a decade
passed before the design was finalised
and contracts were eventually placed in
2007, with first metal cut at Rosyth and several
other shipyards around Britain. Escalating costs
and technical problems delayed the work and in
the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review
(SDSR) the Navy had to sacrifice its
last operational carrier, HMS Ark
Royal, to help find the money to
sustain the new carrier programme.
Carrier Capability
HMS Queen Elizabeth is now 70% complete,
with power systems up and running and radar
turning. The Royal Navy is deciding how the
ship and its air wing will be utilised. The crew is
already aboard preparing for
sea trials next August and the
ship is planned to ‘undock’ in
April 2017, before handover
a month later. HMS Prince of
Wales is scheduled to enter
service in 2020.
‘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
Naval Staff (Aviation, Amphibious Capability
and Carriers), is the senior reporting officer for
the carrier programme and responsible for
the ships’ entry into service. He told a briefing
at the 2015 Defence & Security Equipment
International event that carriers were: “Not
just naval assets but capabilities that can be
used to support army and air force operations.
Britain still has a global foreign policy and we
are free to move the carriers where we want”.
In September 2014, Prime Minister David
Cameron marked a key decision in the carrier
programme when he committed the Navy to
standing up a “Continuous carrier capability”.
The government had previously been unclear
whether HMS Prince of Wales would enter
service, leaving the Royal Navy taking ‘carrier
strike capability holidays’ when HMS Queen
Elizabeth had to go into dock for refit or repair.
With both carriers in service one will always
be ready to conduct operations with at
least a squadron of F-35Bs embarked. The
other ship could then be in refit, carrying
out work-up training or employed as a
commando carrier for the Royal Marines,
with transport helicopters embarked.
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
an air offensive using the F-35B’s ‘day-one’
stealth capability to knock down enemy air
defences, with Raytheon BGM-109 Tomahawk
Land Attack Missile strikes from Astute-class
nuclear submarines or surface ships.
The carrier strike force mix could be ‘plugand-play’, said RAdm Blount, including US
Marine Corps F-35Bs operating from the new
carriers; the Crowsnest airborne early warning
system, fitted to Merlin maritime helicopters,
will be an integral part of the capability.
Meanwhile, Merlin HM2s would create an
anti-submarine screen and perform surface
surveillance around the maritime task group.
Next, the rear admiral discussed the
Expeditionary Strike concept, involving the
embarkation of a squadron of F-35Bs and
Royal Marine Commandos, with transport
helicopters to take the troops ashore. This
force mix is intended to place a landing party
ashore in the face of a determined enemy,
the F-35Bs providing close air support. If a
suitable airstrip were secured, the F-35Bs
could disembark and continue to support
the amphibious assault as it moves inland.
Littoral Manoeuvre is the third operational
concept, envisaged as a mission in coastal
waters against a lightly armed opponent,
insurgents or pirates, or within a humanitarian
mission. It combines a Royal Marines landing
force with a full spectrum of helicopter support,
including Chinook HC4/5/6 and Merlin HC4
transports to lift troops and their supplies
ashore. The offensive element includes
capabilities to find and strike land and
sea targets, with Apache AH1 attack,
Wildcat AH1 scout and Merlin HM2
maritime surveillance helicopters.
High Gear Preparation
With the months counting down to HMS Queen
Elizabeth sailing out of Rosyth, RAdm Blount
and his colleagues are moving preparations
into high gear, ready to accept the vessel
into service in 2017. The project will gain
momentum, since a series of critical milestones
have to be passed in quick succession for a
credible front line capability to be fielded.
The Military Aviation Authority will be heavily
involved, ensuring the ship and its embarked
aircraft can perform safely under operational
conditions. Gaining release to service for aircraft
flying from HMS Queen Elizabeth is an essential
‘tick in the box’ and an extensive flight-test
HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH
Left: The second UK F-35B Lightning II, ZM136,
takes off from Eglin AFB, Florida, on May 20, 2013.
A squadron of the type will be the primary air asset
on the two new Royal Navy carriers, along with
Merlin HM2 anti-submarine warfare helicopters.
MOD Crown Copyright
Right: An Army Air Corps Apache AH1 from 664
Squadron and a Royal Air Force Chinook practicing
deck landings on board the carrier HMS Illustrious
(R 06) on July 19, 2011. Both types will be
deployed on board the new Queen Elizabeth class
carriers to support littoral operations, providing
strike and transport capabilities, respectively.
MOD Crown Copyright/POA(Phot) Ray Jones
programme is at the core of the process.
The release to service process not only tests
aircraft and ship systems, but sets training
standards for air crews and flight deck
personnel. In the long period since the Navy
operated fixed-wing aircraft from a carrier, it has
sent dozens of personnel to serve on US and
French carriers, avoiding skill fade by ensuring
they return with experience to keep the Navy
ahead during the release to service process.
Once HMS Queen Elizabeth’s crew has
mastered sailing the ship, it will begin to work
with all the main UK helicopter types. This
will happen in UK waters and will include test
deck landings and take-offs, plus stowage
and maintenance, before moving to complex
mixed-type helicopter operations on deck.
This is considered the most straightforward
element of the entry to service process, a key
rationale for completing this first stage.
During 2018 the process will move towards
fixed-wing operations and Royal Navy officers
see this as the real test of the validity of the
release to service process. In mid-2018,
HMS Queen Elizabeth is to set sail across the
Atlantic to conduct F-35B integration trials
off the US east coast. The joint US/UK F-35B
Integrated Task Force has already carried
out the initial stage of these tests at Naval Air
Station Patuxent River, Maryland, including
live take-offs from a ski jump built at the edge
of the airfield’s runway. US Navy carriers do
not have ski jumps and the UK is funding and
conducting this part of the programme itself.
There has been considerable controversy
over whether the first F-35B to land on HMS
Queen Elizabeth will be a British aircraft flown
by a British pilot. The MOD has recognised
the symbolic significance of the moment and
a UK aircraft will undoubtedly line up to fly this
symbolic mission, with a ‘Brit’ at the controls.
The later phases of F-35B integration trials,
however, will be fully multinational, with US
Marine Corps aircraft and pilots playing a full
role since the UK’s first operational F-35B unit,
the RAF’s 617 Squadron, will not be fully up and
running. Once the famous ‘Dambusters’ have
fully converted to the F-35B during 2018 and
achieved Initial Operating Capability (Land) at
RAF Marham, Norfolk, the unit will prepare for
full operational trials in HMS Queen Elizabeth.
This phase of the carrier’s entry to service
will take place in UK waters during 2019; it
will involve mass take-offs and landings, live
ordnance drops and onboard maintenance.
This is considered the critical test of the
carrier programme and will pave the way for
the declaration of Initial Operating Capability
(Sea) in 2020, when at least nine F-35Bs will be
available to embark on HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Full operating capability is targeted for 2022,
when the Crowsnest system will be in use and
the second UK F-35B unit, 809 Naval
afm
Air Squadron, will be fully established.
Carrier Future
The successful delivery of the carrier and arrival
of its air wing will end a decade-long ‘capability
holiday’ caused by the retirement of HMS Ark
Royal in 2011. It is clear Rear Admiral Blount
and his Royal Navy colleagues are proud of their
efforts to build HMS Queen Elizabeth and bring it
into service. The pioneers of carrier aviation 100
years ago would be awestruck simply by the scale
of HMS Queen Elizabeth’s deck – it is the largest
warship ever to enter service with the Royal Navy
and will transform UK air operations in a wide
spectrum of missions. “UK carrier strike
capability is coming soon,” said RAdm Blount.
“We have stuff to do to really get it right.”
Above: The observer's panel on a Fleet Air Arm Merlin HM2 anti-submarine helicopter. The Merlins will
operate as an ASW asset from the new carriers and also provide surface surveillance around the maritime
task group. MOD Crown Copyright/Andrew Linnett
Left: An impression of HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales berthed in the shadow of the Royal
Navy's legendary HMS Victory at Portsmouth Dockyard. Middle Slip Jetty and Victory Jetty will be improved
as part of a £100 million investment in the base and harbour for the new carriers. MOD Crown Copyright
#333 DECEMBER 2015 39