Let's hope nobody sinks one

The two new aircraft carriers we've just bought are bloody massive - almost
as big as Nimitz. (There's a picture of Nimitz here:
http://www.milnet.com/pentagon/navy/cvn68_nimitz_deckload.JPG.)

Cost: £4 billion.

Expressed in terms of football pitches and double-decker buses (what else):

a.. Each ship will be similar size and weight as the ocean liner the QE2
The CVF dimensions are: 65,000 tonnes at full displacement; 280m (920ft)
length x 70m (230ft) width at flightdeck level; 56m from keel to masthead -
6m taller than Nelson's Column; 11m max draft (keel to waterline); 9 decks
deep + Flight Deck; 40 aircraft.
b.. Each ship weighs more than 32,500 average family cars.
c.. The maximum expected Air Group to be embarked is 36 Joint Strike
Fighters and four Airborne Early Warning aircraft, bringing the combined
weight of embarked aircraft to over 1,000 tonnes.
d.. CVF will carry over 8,600 tonnes of fuel to support the Ship and her
aircraft - enough for the average family car to travel to the moon and back
twelve times.
e.. The ships can carry more than 1,000 tonnes of food - enough to feed
the crew for six weeks.
f.. The Flight Deck area is nearly 13,000m² - the equivalent of 49 tennis
courts or three football pitches.
g.. The hangar is 29,000m³ - equivalent to 12 Olympic swimming pools.
h.. The Ship's Long Range radar is the same size to that of a large mobile
home.
i.. CVF has two propellers of 6.7m diameter, weighing 33 tonnes each -
Nearly two & half times as heavy as a double decker bus and one & half times
as high. Each is driven by a pair of electric motors.
j.. The ships' anchors will be 3.1m in height, each weighing 13 tonnes -
almost as much as a double decker bus.
k.. Each of the two huge lifts that move aircraft from hangar to
flightdeck can carry two fighter-bombers. They're so big one of them could
carry the weight of the entire ship's crew.
l.. Total crew numbers on HM Ships Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales are
only two fifths more than on the Invincible class - even though they are
three times the size.
m.. Sixty-seven catering staff will cook the Ship's Company of up to 1,450
personnel three meals a day
n.. There will be four galleys on board, serving four large dining areas,
the largest of which can serve 960 crew in an hour. The entire crew can be
served in 90 minutes (45 minutes when at Action Stations).
o.. The crew will have a range of recreational facilities, when not on
duty, such as cinema and fitness suites, available 24 hours a day. As is
currently the case in the Fleet, all personnel have access to e-mail and the
Internet, subject to satellite communications equipment not being used for
operational purposes.
p.. In Britain's last big carrier, the Ark Royal scrapped in the late
1970s, sailors lived 100 men to a mess deck. On the new carriers they share
six berth cabins with large and comfortable bunks and adjacent toilet
facilities and showers.
q.. Using a combination of Diesel and Gas Turbine driven Generators, CVF
will produce 109MW, enough to run a town the size of Swindon. The combined
weight of the Diesel Generators is 800 tonnes.
r.. There will be 11 full time medical staff, managing an eight bed
medical suite, operating theatre and dental surgery, which can also be
augmented as the mission demands (eg humanitarian operations).
s.. CVF will produce over 150 tonnes of fresh water daily.
t.. In keeping with the most modern navy ships the new carriers will still
have a NAAFI shop stocking confectionary items for private purchase that
would not normally be supplied through Government sources, and CVF will have
a sizeable shop to cater for the 1,450 personnel on board.
u.. Designing and building the ships is expected to sustain and create
some 10,000 jobs across the UK throughout its design and manufacture. At the
peak of assembly, over a thousand personnel are expected to be engaged on
CVF at each of the yards at Govan, Barrow, Rosyth and Portsmouth.
http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.6497


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