The Defence Infrastructure Organisation has released the scope of works for improvements to Her Majesty’s Naval Base Portsmouth to accommodate the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers;
From the EU Tenders Supplement;
The project is for the design and construction of a secure tidal berth for the QEC Aircraft Carrier on Middle Slip Jetty comprising upgrading work to the existing jetty to withstand berthing, mooring and operational forces exerted by the QEC and associated operational activities. This is likely to involve the provision of strong points within the existing jetty structure and the replacement of the load-limited sections of the jetty dating from the 1920s.
The QEC will require increased electrical supply at the berth as there is insufficient capacity within HMNB Portsmouth to meet this demand. This increased supply (via the network operator) to a new substation located near to the jetty which will allow transformation and conversion of the supply.
The project will also require reconfiguration of the jetty to provide a potable water supply and other vessel support services, which could involve relocation or protection.
Aids to Navigation comprising a number of multiple sets of leading lights and navigation beacons, mounted on independent marine structures, are required to enable QEC to safely transit to and from the MSJ berth.
Estimated value excluding VAT: Range: between 40 000 000 and 60 000 000 GBP
The project is estimated to take 22 months from contract award.
The RN’s Big Carriers were always based at Devonport. One small problem with the Hampshire port is that, CVF will have to wait for High Tide before entering or leaving Portsmouth. At Devonport, you won’t have that problem.
The navy-matters website still is pretty relevant on the problems of basing such large ships in such old naval bases. Kind of makes me think the MoD should really be looking at a really long term new deep water base especially if HMNB Clyde needs relocating sometime in the future.
http://navy-matters.beedall.com/cvf1-21.htm
ewaste
MilfordHaven could probably deal with the whole RN shut P’y and keep devenport for patrol ships and Minesweepers and as a back up…
(I will now duck)
This is amusing as it has been a problem for decades. The Battleship Vanguard was to wide to get in most RN docks, most RN carrier designs from the early 40s onwards had to be sized for undersized docks. A new dock was planned for Portsmouth to Take CVA01 but was never built. Even some of the WW1 dreadnoughts were sized to fit in docks rather than the other way round. The biggest dock the RN ever built for itself was the 1,000ft x 132ft dock in Singapore- the Japanese found it to be a great investment. Now we have Portsmouth, that needs serious dredging, as a jetty only base for the QE class whilst their dry-dock will be all they way up at Rosyth (the ships have had to be designed short enough to get under the forth rail bridge itself built to an Admiralty requirement for the rail line to be 150ft above high water….in 1880) in a nation that may no longer even be part of the UK by the time the QE class enter service.
I actually agree with ewaste, a new deep water naval base on the south coast is about a century overdue but the money is just not there.
The Haven, would make a good base, plenty of MOD Land around the local area. However, would you want a major base next to the Havens LNG Facility?
The Leader of the Welsh Assembly, did recently say that the Haven would make an excellent replacement base for the SSBN’s. Plaid Cymru had a fit!!
Simon 257
You have got it the wrong way round mate. Devonport is very tidally restricted, Portsmouth is not.
At low water in Devonport you have to reduce the safety margin just to get a T23 out and in.
The LPDs cannot enter and exit in the “pre docking down” ballast position at certain tidal windows and as for the narroes, well I have driven a 175M 18k LPD in and out and would not fancy it at all with an extra 120M!
What they are talking about for Portsmouth is some dredging to allow a straighter approach channel than currently exists.
Milford Haven was where I was thinking of as a possibility plenty of deep water and access to open water are exactly what makes it so busy these days. Simon frankly if anything serious happens at the LNG facility we’ll have bigger problems than disruption or damage to RN facilities, like keeping the country going. The LNG facility and infrastructure is actually the reason it’s a good candidate, there are doubtless plenty of tugs and various other services around that could support an RN base. Furthermore thanks to the nature of an LNG facility security should be pretty good so lots of military assets nearby should only help with that. Although yes I will admit it is a risk that would need managing carefully as some would see it as a huge increase in vulnerability, blow up an LNG terminal get the RN free.
If there wasn’t the Scotland independence issue Rosyth would be a candidate location since the damn things were assembled there and the associated investment that it required. Does anyone know enough about the subsurface topography of Gare Loch and the Rhu Narrows to know if you base the CVF’s at Faslane. As is pointed out on the navy-matters site there is Inch Green Drydock across the Clyde, Glen Mallan, Glen Douglas and Coulport all nearby coupled with continued investment by the MoD.
ewaste,
See the link here for info.
http://www.qhm.mod.uk/clyde/navigational?cmsaction=download&page=2088&id=2103
I would not want to be the one to try it but in theory, yes you could do it. The old carriers have been in and out several times.
Thanks All Politicians are the Same
Looks like the main spanner in the works is the constant depth of the Rhu Narrows which doesn’t surprise me although Glen Mallan Ammunition Jetty is also too shallow.
Rosyth is great but the Forth bridge is a pain, there is plenty of scope for expansion there too. Unfortunately Rosyth is a long way from where the QE class need to be. Virtually every mission they do will involve them going south somehow, Rosyth substantially adds to that journey, Portsmout on the other-hand is much better. Inchgreen is interesting but would need significant investment to make it viable and it suffers the same distance problem as Rosyth.
Milford Haven is in Wales what if they want independance as well.
Barrow????
Milford Haven in Wales – what if they want home rule as well
Barrow????
Wales is very far away from any sort of independence.
As is Barrow.
If we were serious about the “special relationship” we would have a naval base & drydock that could take a Nimitz class. It would also let us easily operate the largest of RN ships.
John,
RN under-building when it comes to docks precedes the special relationship by a considerable margin. Unfortunately it is a difficult issue; local politics always plays a part and money spent on concrete os money that could be spent on steel and electronics.
Non-issue. Infrastructure shortcomings identified during concept and assessment and have been planned for rectification for years.
Most of works are to remove the dogleg into Pompey and to set up electrical infrastructure to match the 11kV distribution system on the ship.
Disgusted, from your location you must have actually been to Barrow. What on earth makes you think somewhere that you struggle to get submarines out of might be usable for a carrier???
Pardon the very loosely related Q,
But doesn’t Gib have a aircraft carrier sized dry dock? Or did :/
I would very much like births made in all our little rocks left flying the flag. But the current decision is a bit awkward, then again with the drive to save costs…
Having the biggest ships in the RN berthing at Southampton would certainly cause a bit of a ripple in Portsmouth….
Getting one of those big buggers out into the open sea through the Solent is going to be a bit of a security nightmare with hundreds of small craft about. Some overkeen overtanned speedboat driver might get collandered.