Why The Carrier Leak Isn’t A Big Deal

Repairs to the Royal Navy's first £3bn leaking aircraft carrier are underway.

A Multicat support boat called Uncle Bill has been spotted at her stern, it's understood to be helping to stem the problem.

It was revealed earlier this week that HMS Queen Elizabeth had been taking on 200 litres of water an hour.

A problem with one of the seals around one of her propeller shafts was first identified during sea trials.

The ship is scheduled for repair and a Royal Navy spokesperson said the fault will not prevent her from sailing again early in the new year.

Under Warranty

The necessary repairs will be covered by a sort of ‘warranty’ by the contractors involved in building the ship.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson told Forces News:

"This isn't going to cost the British taxpayer a penny."

“This is the reason why we have the sea trials, to make sure that everything is working absolutely perfectly."

Sea trials are a process specifically designed to identify and fix faults before a ship enters service.

Although HMS Queen Elizabeth was officially commissioned into the Royal Navy earlier this month, her sea trial programme is still ongoing.

A Royal Navy spokesman said:

"It does not prevent her from sailing again and her sea trials programme will not be affected."

Leak Not That Big

A leak of 200 litres an hour sounds like a lot, but the reality on board a ship the size of HMS Queen Elizabeth (65,000 tonnes) is very different.

Commodore (Ret'd) Alistair Halliday, who commanded three ships and served on HMS Hermes, said: “It’s a relatively small amount of water.”

He said: “If this was over a couple hundred tonnes an hour, I think that would be a different issue.

“This is a relatively minor issue which I think will be resolved quite quickly.”

 The fix required is likely to not require a dry dock.

“It’s quite amazing the advances in technology in underwater engineering. This sort of thing can be done quite easily alongside in port.

“This sort of thing does routinely happen, certainly on contractor sea trials.

"I’m sure there are plans now being put in place to make the repair, but it’s certainly not an urgent thing to do.”

HMS Prince of Wales

HMS Queen Elizabeth’s sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales is currently being built in Rosyth. The process has already been informed by the lessons learned from the construction of HMS Queen Elizabeth and problems identified during her sea trials will be fixed before HMS Prince of Wales sets sail.