Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier

HMS Prince of Wales (foreground) and HMS Queen Elizabeth (background) on 19 May 2021
Class overview
NameQueen Elizabeth class
BuildersAircraft Carrier Alliance
Operators Royal Navy
Preceded byInvincible class
Cost£7.6 billion (2019)[1] for two units
Built2009–2017
In commission2017–present[2]
Planned2
Completed2
Active2
General characteristics
TypeAircraft carrier
Displacement65,000 tonnes (64,000 long tons; 72,000 short tons)[3]
Length284 m (932 ft)[4]
Beam
  • 39 m (128 ft) waterline
  • 73 m (240 ft) overall[5][6]
Draught11 m (36 ft)
Decks16,000 m2 (170,000 sq ft) 9 decks beneath flightdeck with hangar covering the centrepiece of two decks (without islands)
Installed power
Propulsion
SpeedIn excess of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph), tested to 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)[7]
Range10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi)
Troops250[8] to 900[9]
Complement679 crew, not including air element; total berths for up to 1,600
Sensors and
processing systems
Armament
Aircraft carried
Aviation facilities
  • Large flight deck with 12º ski jump
  • Hangar deck
  • - 155 m x 34 m x 7 m
  • Two aircraft lifts
  • - 27 m x 15 m
  • - 54,500 kg max load[14]
HMS Queen Elizabeth, July 2014

The Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy consists of two vessels. The lead ship of her class, HMS Queen Elizabeth, was named on 4 July 2014[15] in honour of Elizabeth I[16] and was commissioned on 7 December 2017.[2] Her sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, was launched on 21 December 2017, and was commissioned on 10 December 2019.[17] They form the central components of the UK Carrier Strike Group.[18]

The contract for the vessels was announced in July 2007, ending several years of delay over cost issues and British naval shipbuilding restructuring. The contracts were signed one year later on 3 July 2008, with the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, a partnership formed with Babcock International, Thales Group, A&P Group, the UK Ministry of Defence and BAE Systems. In 2014 the UK Government announced that the second carrier would be brought into service, ending years of uncertainty surrounding its future. This was confirmed by the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, with at least one carrier being available at any time.[19][20]

The vessels have a displacement of approximately 65,000 tonnes (64,000 long tons; 72,000 short tons), are 284 metres (932 ft) long and are the largest warships ever constructed for the Royal Navy.[3] The Carrier Air Wing (CVW) will vary depending on the type and location of deployment, but will consist of a maximum of 24 F-35Bs under normal circumstances (or 36 in extreme cases) and Merlin helicopters in both utility and Airborne Early Warning roles.[13] The projected cost of the programme is £6.2 billion.[21]

The 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review announced the intention to purchase the Lockheed Martin F-35C "carrier variant" and to build Prince of Wales in a Catapult Assisted Take-Off Barrier Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) configuration. However, in 2012, after projected costs of the CATOBAR system rose to around twice the original estimate, the government announced that it would revert to the original design deploying F-35Bs from Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) configured carriers.

  1. ^ "MOD Major Projects Report 2019". Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  2. ^ a b "HMS Queen Elizabeth crew switch on its radar for first time". Naval Technology. 26 August 2015. Archived from the original on 11 September 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  3. ^ a b "HMS Queen Elizabeth". royalnavy.mod.uk. Archived from the original on 7 December 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  4. ^ "Queen Elizabeth Class". Royal Navy. Archived from the original on 10 August 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  5. ^ "Queen Elizabeth Class (CVF)". Naval Technology. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  6. ^ "Royal Navy – Aircraft Carriers – The Future Carrier (CVF) Queen Elizabeth Class – Illustrious – n3a3". Armed Forces. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  7. ^ "HMS Queen Elizabeth exceeds stated maximum speed on trials". ukdefencejournal.org.uk. 24 July 2017. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hargreaves201312 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "HMS Ocean:Written question – 19049". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  10. ^ "Babcock to Deliver, Convert Phalanx 1B CIWS for Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier". 16 December 2014. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  11. ^ "Close-in defence for the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers". navylookout.com. 28 April 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  12. ^ "In focus: the Fleet Solid Support ship design". Navy Lookout. 28 February 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  13. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference hc-394 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Hobbs 2013, p. 347
  15. ^ "HMS Queen Elizabeth is named by Her Majesty The Queen". www.royalnavy.mod.uk. 4 July 2014. Archived from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  16. ^ George Allison (4 March 2018). "Royal Navy press team confirm which monarch HMS Queen Elizabeth is named for". Ukdefencejournal.org.uk. Archived from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  17. ^ Maddox, David (23 March 2013). "600 Royal Navy personnel may be stationed at Rosyth". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 25 March 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  18. ^ "UK Carrier Strike Group Assembles for the First Time". Royal Navy. 5 October 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  19. ^ "Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier: A Guide". UK Defence Journal. 3 April 2014. Archived from the original on 12 November 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  20. ^ "UK aircraft carrier Prince of Wales to go into service". BBC. 5 September 2014. Archived from the original on 23 September 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  21. ^ Philip Hammond, Secretary of State for Defence (6 November 2013). "Aircraft Carriers and UK Shipbuilding". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. col. 251–254.