UK Edition
Britain's vast new aircraft carriers will make enemies 'think twice' about starting war
Longer than the Houses of Parliament and able to launch up to 108 air strike sorties per day, Britain’s new aircraft carriers will make potential enemies “think twice” about starting future wars, their senior naval officer has said.
The new Queen Elizabeth Class carriers will be become Britain’s most potent conventional weapon and change the way the Royal Navy does business, Capt Simon Petitt said.
The two vast 67,000 tonne vessels, which have cost £6.2bn for the pair, are the largest warships ever built in Britain.
The first of the ships to be ready, HMS Queen Elizabeth, is due to start sea trials next year and is expected to be ready for its first deployment in 2021. Its sister ship, the Prince of Wales, is being built alongside at Rosyth on the Firth of Forth and is expected to be ready around 18 months later.
The vast ships, which are being built by an army of 10,000 workers, have a four acre flight deck and are taller than the Niagara Falls.
Each vessel will have more than 3,000 compartments and as well as a crew of nearly 700, will also be able to accommodate another 900 air crew and Marines.
Capt Petitt, senior naval officer for the two vessels, said they would become the UK’s “most potent strategic weapon bar the continuous at sea deterrent.”
“It is about stopping wars rather than starting them. If someone does want to start a war I think they might think twice if they see one of these ships coming over the horizon.
“We have never seen these ships before. It will change the way the Navy does its business.”
He said he could “certainly see” the vessels used in campaigns against Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (Isil) and expected them to be sent to the Gulf on deployment when ready.
The two warships will become the centrepiece of the Royal Navy, alongside the nuclear deterrent, when they enter service, at the start of 50 year careers, carrying F35B stealth jump jets.
Capt Petitt, senior naval officer for the two ships, said they would add “enormous punch to the capability the Royal Navy has got”.
But he predicted they would also increase British influence overseas.
He said: “I think [Putin] will be looking very carefully at these. Carriers have huge weight of news. It’s no surprise that when Obama announces military stuff, he does it on the deck of an aircraft carrier. They are definitely the modern equivalent of a battleship.
A new generation of aircraft carriers was first considered in the late 1990s, but the two ships have been hit by escalating costs and delays. When the programme was finally given the green light in 2007, the two ships were expected in 2016 and 2018 at a cost of £3.65bn. The programme is now expected to cost the taxpayer £6.2bn.
The vast vessels will hold a crew of 679 sailors, along with space for up to another 900 air crew and Marines.
Naval commanders struggling with low manning levels and a shortage of engineers have previously warned they will struggle to man the fleet when the new carriers arrive. Capt Petitt admitted manning for key engineer posts was “very taught”.
They are designed to hold up to 36 F35B stealth fighters and four Merlin helicopters, but could also hold Chinooks and Apache gunships. The ships are also expected to play host to United States Marines F35 jets during joint training and missions.
Britain has been without aircraft carriers since the last of the Invincible Class ships were scrapped after cost cutting in the 2010 defence review. Capt Petitt said the Navy “couldn’t wait” to see the return of carriers, which would offer “military options and political choice”.
He said: “If you imagine the Gulf War and the American carriers put aircraft deep into to Iraq to bomb Hussain's bunkers and strategic targets we can do that.
"If you imagine Sierra Leone where we dropped Royal Marines onto the beaches we can do that. If you can imagine Libya where we had apache dealing with the more tactical targets near the beach we can do that as well. So it's all about flexibility all about lots of different missions, that's what the carrier offers.”