HMS Queen Elizabeth is now very close to being ready to leave the fitting out basin in Rosyth for around 10 weeks of sea trials.
Living on board
The Ship Staff Move on Board (SSMOB) date was achieved on 26th May and her crew have moved from shoreside accommodation are now living on the ship. Living on board allows the ship’s company to become familiar with their new home, socialise together in the mess, personalise cabins and make the living spaces their own. The forward part of the ship is now in full use and comprises of; The forward galley – one of five galleys on board, six chefs serve daily breakfasts, lunches and dinners to the 700 men and women of the Ship’s Company. Medical Complex / sick bay will provide routine patient consultations and clinics, as well as urgent medical treatment, minor operations and dentistry. Living Quarters – The QE class carriers have modern, comfortable accommodation with 1,600 bunks in 470 cabins. Each member of Ship’s Company will be able to use the state of the art facilities on board including a cinema and fitness suite with personnel also having access to e-mail and the internet.
Sailing when conditions are right
The Navy and government is understandably keen to announce the date she will sail, as soon as it is known (after the election). The Aircraft Carrier Alliance who remain the owners of the ship are however, less keen to commit publicly to a date. The first possible tidal window when the ship could leave is sometime between 21st and 27th June but departure at then is not certain. The weather, and especially the wind conditions, will probably be the deciding factor. The decision to sail may only be announced at quite late notice. Media speculation and interest will be considerable and there is pressure to get the ship to sea as soon as possible. However wise heads will ensure it is done safely and at the right moment, even if this means delaying until the next tidal window.
Before any new or recently refitted ship goes to sea, the crew usually conduct a ‘fast cruise’ alongside where everything is operated and tested as if the ship was at sea. HMS Queen Elizabeth’s fast cruise is expected to be run for around 10 days in early June.
No there is not a “morale crisis”
On 6th June The Portsmouth News published an article that claimed that morale on board “was at an all time low” and 21 “depressed” sailors from the ship “had resigned in one week”. One would expect the local paper to be enthusiastically supporting carriers which are of such importance to the city, rather than publishing sensationalist and inaccurate gossip that is detrimental to the reputation of the navy and its centrepiece project.
While some sailors will have resigned while the ship has been alongside, it takes around a year for them to leave and the numbers leaving are below the 4.7% average VO (Voluntary Outflow) across the fleet as a whole. It is true the RN does have a shortage of manpower and the carriers are part of the issue but a lack of manpower will not prevent the sailing and commissioning of HMS Queen Elizabeth. Her Captain Jerry Kyd should be congratulated for maintaining high morale of the crew working on a ship during its construction, mostly living away from their families in Scotland for an extended period. There is of course, considerable anticipation amongst the ship’s company as the time for her go to sea gets closer, resignations are very unlikely to increase in the near future.
Latest imagery
This video from the Aircraft Carrier Alliance shows the ship’s company moving on board.
Related articles
- HMS Queen Elizabeth – making good progress (Save the Royal Navy, February 2017)
- When will HMS Queen Elizabeth arrive in Portsmouth? (Save the Royal Navy, October 2016
“sensationalist and inaccurate gossip”. You should try working there. Well I knocked it last year and have finally been let go. I was gutted. Absolutely no attempt at retention. No interest whatsoever. Morale IS terrible amongst a lot of the ratings and that’s a fact and many are resigning and have resigned. There’s some good eggs up there but in reality it’s getting by on the skin of its teeth.
Take care….. those that have decided to go are not always to be regarded as giving a balanced account of what is happening. If you are right then you clearly are not going to contribute to any improvement while others will be trying their hardest, and if you are wrong you are just being disloyal and gobby, and certainly not helping matters.
Agreed that morale across the Navy and armed forces in general is not what it should be. There are too many people who want to leave the RN than is healthy and like every workplace, you will find a proportion of discontents aboard every ship in the fleet. However, the facts do not support the claim by PN that there is a particular morale problem on HMS QE. Overall the rate of VO across the RN is falling slightly from the 2014 peak. Sorry you had a bad experience but it does not mean everyone else is entirely unhappy.
Has it not occurred to you that If there was no attempt at retention then maybe they probably did not want you back.
Let’s just hope no one is ever tempted to send this epic folly into battle.Under armed and under escorted, it will be easy meat. China must be wetting themselves laughing about suggestions that British carriers will enforce access to the south China seas.
Join the discussion If I had a penny for every time somebody said something like that!
Define under armed and under escorted!
Do you want some BL 15 inch Mk I naval gun in large turrets? Cruise missiles? anti ship missiles in VLS? Laser guns?
The QE class is an aircraft carrier not a Battleship! It has organic point defences and soft kill systems. General RN policy is to avoid the carriers getting into a fight. That is the job of the Escorts and her F-35B!
Now talking about Escorts I agree that hull numbers have been cut back too low but we need to get real when it comes to the QE class and her deployment, we can’t afford to run a large Carrier Battle Group. The main reason every US carrier has a closely attached destroyer is to act as plane guard, in other words pick up aviators who have been forced to ditch whilst landing allowing the carrier to carry on operations. Not a critical issue for a STOVL carrier. In UK service Escorts will be attached to the QE class depending on operational need and threat. Chugging around the Caribbean don’t expect to see a large Escort but in the South China seas do expect it.
The RN learnt in the 40’s that Battleship type craft have had thier day, I am suprised at the size and lack of visual support craft…. BUT advances in radar and weponry may well make these size ships viable in todays navy
Are you drunk? Plane guard went out in the last Korean war. Real carriers have Helios.
The QE carrier project can in no way be called an “epic folly”. There may be some issues but overall, together with f-35, they represent a step-change in capability. For a detailed explanation of their worth and purpose see:
https://www.navylookout.com/carrier-count-down-part-1-debunking-the-hype-mis-information-nonsense/
https://www.navylookout.com/carrier-countdown-part-2-their-point-purpose-and-power/
I joined the RN as a boy seaman in 1959, serving at HMS Ganges for 12 months. Age just 15. I became a gunner. I was drafted to the Far East to join HMS Caprice, a CA class 1943 built destroyer, part of the 8th Destroyer squadron Far East Fleet. That was when we had a real Navy. The UK had a Far East Fleet, a Mediterranian Fleet and a Home Fleet. We also had many other ships in the Carribian areas. Now, this once great country does not have enough ships to patol and protect our own shore line!! All thanks to the treacherous governments of the last 50 years! The fact that this country is having to scramble about frantically for people to man the new ships and subs coming on stream in the near future, is an abject and utter disgrace!
Pity they don’t have National Service today, 2 years in Navy like it join up, dislike it Ieave but Country has 2 yrs device from a volunteer albeit a legal form of Press Ganged.
How do you propose to pay for national service?
Because you know what’s best for moral? Forcing a bunch of young men to serve who didn’t want to in the first place and want nothing more than to go home….
Well said Peter,you sign on to the r.n.you give your best the present and future governments should do the same,give us back a navy that can proctect our shores.
When do the aircraft join ship, even 4 per carrier would enable pilots and deck crew to maintain skills.
2020 depending on deliveries.
Keeping positive is the way to go with HMS QE. Big is beautiful as it means space for top class facilities, useful weapons load and much more including developing the ship forward for the next decades as a national defense asset. Momentous when she moves under her own power.
But empty of a crew?
You’ve said across multiple diffrent articles that the F-35s need to go to the Navy. Thats not really possible with the RAF losing it’s tornadoes
They’ got PC’s and Drones. What more?’ Per Ardua ad Astra’ – sounds good to me that last bit. The next war will be fought and won above surface on the edge of space and with drones.
I am ex Military and would like to say how proud I am of the people who have made this happen. Personally I think if CVA01 had been built in the 60s there would not have been a Falklands war where 250 died and the cost to the nation must have been many times more than two aircraft carriers. I wish both ships a long and successful career.
What would be your ideal Royal Navy currently (I’ve seen your shopping list but I mean if you could start from scratch)
Any further news on Sailing date for HMS QE
Monday morning at slack water.
Off topic by a margin.
I was looking at the 4 Passenger Transfer Vessels destined for the Queen Elizabeth Class.
You know what they have no military capability!
I find this quite extraordinary. I would assume they have an ability to provide some useful guard function for the carriers when they are at some harbour or remote anchorage; but I can see no sign of it. In days gone by our battleships carried picket boats, whose job, apart from carrying crew to shore was to acted as guard vessels for their warship home.
To me this proves that the present Naval mentality is not sufficiently hazard aware. In today’s maritime environment where there have been several terror attacks on warships by hostile small craft, it is amazing that an opportunity is wasted not to arm these craft. Carrying crew to shore may also require some defensive weapon; the crew have value. in these circumstances they should at least be amed with a 76mm minigun.
Those in command should insist the carriers and crew are defended at all times and a watch set kilometres away to defend against attack.
When will the authorities wake up and bring forward a coherent deep layer defence for these major vessels and flagships?
My private Motor Launch dating from the 20’s has the distinction of being amongst the first minehunters as opposed to minesweepers in RN service, when in early 1941 it was requisitioned and commissioned into RN service. She would probably have given a better account of herself, when faced by danger, than the present Passenger Transfer Vessels.
Apart from the passenger transfer vessels, the QEs also carry a couple of Ribs whose functions include the picket you describe.