Royal Navy’s new £3.1bn aircraft carrier springs a leak

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.  

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.  

The Queen commissioned the warship earlier this month, saying it embodied the ‘best of British’.  
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. 
UK, (Daily Mail), 19 December 2017