New piece of ‘jigsaw’ arrives in Scotland

Part of Britain’s biggest‑ever warship sailed up to Scotland yesterday where the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is being assembled like a giant jigsaw at Rosyth.

The section, which forms part of the flight deck and hangar, was completed five weeks ahead of schedule in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The £55 million order to build part of HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales brought shipbuilding back to the Tyne, where the last aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal, was launched 30 years ago.

A&P Group’s Tyne yard at Hebburn is the only north east yard involved in building the new ship, which will measure 280m by 70m and be capable of carrying 40 aircraft.

The ship’s 8,000-tonne mid-section was completed last month at BAE’s Govan hangars and shipped to Babcock’s facility in Rosyth.

In July, a National Audit Office report revealed that military chiefs had considered cancelling the Queen Elizabeth programme, but the MoD feared that such a decision would have involved accepting “the demise of the shipbuilding industry”.

HMS Queen Elizabeth, will not enter service until at least 2019. HMS Prince of Wales is due to be completed a year later.