It is the largest and most powerful warship ever built by the UK… and it’s leaking.
Launched just weeks ago, the Royal Navy’s new £3.1billion aircraft carrier has a ‘significant’ defect – and could cost millions to repair.
Top brass on the HMS Queen Elizabeth found the fault – which affects an inflatable seal around one of the propeller shafts – during sea trials.
It is now causing the carrier to take on 200 litres of water every hour. The UK’s largest warship, which is currently in Portsmouth, may have to be moved to a dry dock for repairs. Insiders blamed the leak on Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA), the partnership that built the vessel.
Top brass on the HMS Queen Elizabeth (pictured) found the fault – which affects an inflatable seal around one of the propeller shafts – during sea trials
As ACA delivered HMS Queen Elizabeth to the Navy with the fault, the company will have to pay the cost of repairs.
Weighing a colossal 65,000 tonnes, the Queen Elizabeth is 919ft long with a flight deck of four acres – space for three football pitches. It was assembled at Rosyth from nine blocks built in six UK shipyards, including BAE Systems Surface Ships in Glasgow, Babcock at Appledore, Devon, and Babcock at Rosyth.
At present, the warship has a crew of around 700, but that will increase to 1,600 when it has a full complement of around 40 F-35B jets and Crowsnest helicopters.
It will have an operational range of up to 10,000 nautical miles and will be capable of speeds in excess of 25 knots (29mph).
The Queen commissioned the warship earlier this month, saying it embodied the ‘best of British’.
In a moving speech to the crew in Portsmouth, she said: ‘The most powerful and capable ship ever to raise the White Ensign, she will in the years and decades ahead represent the country’s resolve on the global stage.’ The Navy has not had an aircraft carrier since HMS Illustrious was scrapped in 2014. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: ‘An issue with a shaft seal has been identified during HMS Queen Elizabeth’s sea trials; this is scheduled for repair while she is alongside at Portsmouth.
‘It does not prevent her from sailing again and her sea trials programme will not be affected.’ An ACA spokesman told The Sun: ‘It is normal practice for a volume of work and defect resolution to continue following vessel acceptance.’