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Strangelove

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HMS Prince of Wales to be 'cannibalised' following mechanical failure​

24th April

A £3 BILLION warship which was only declared fully operational in 2021 is to be partially stripped for parts following a major mechanical failure.

The HMS Prince of Wales, which was built at Rosyth Dockyard between 2011 and 2019, was expected to be ready for frontline duties in the Royal Navy by 2023.

However, the aircraft carrier broke down due to technical issues in August 2022 during a long-planned visit to the USA.
Occurring off the coast of the Isle of Wight, the ship was less than 24 hours into its planned crossing of the Atlantic.

The issues centre around the starboard propeller although the portside propellor also needs to be replaced, according to the Mail on Sunday.

Now, while in dry dock in Scotland, some parts from the HMS Prince of Wales will be stripped to replace broken parts in another vessel - her sister ship the HMS Queen Elizabeth.

It will include scavenging the ship’s
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and fuel filters, which separate seawater from diesel in the fuel tanks, as well as one of the chains from its flight desk lifts, which carry fighter jets from interior hangers up to the flight deck.

It comes after a link in one of the chains broke on the HMS Queen Elizabeth, which was deemed too expensive to replace immediately.
According to the Royal Navy, the process known as “equipment cannibalisation” saves time and money.

Repairs to the HMS Prince of Wales are set to cost around £25 million although the navy insists that it will still be operational within the agreed timeframe.

A Royal Navy spokesman said: “We remain committed to ensuring HMS Prince of Wales commences her operational programme as planned, in autumn 2023, including operational flying training and trials.

“It is not unusual for equipment to be transferred between ships of the same class to ensure operational availability and avoid delays.
“We do not provide a running commentary on the specific details of ships undergoing repair or maintenance.”
 

caudaceus

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HMS Prince of Wales to be 'cannibalised' following mechanical failure​

24th April

A £3 BILLION warship which was only declared fully operational in 2021 is to be partially stripped for parts following a major mechanical failure.

The HMS Prince of Wales, which was built at Rosyth Dockyard between 2011 and 2019, was expected to be ready for frontline duties in the Royal Navy by 2023.

However, the aircraft carrier broke down due to technical issues in August 2022 during a long-planned visit to the USA.
Occurring off the coast of the Isle of Wight, the ship was less than 24 hours into its planned crossing of the Atlantic.

The issues centre around the starboard propeller although the portside propellor also needs to be replaced, according to the Mail on Sunday.

Now, while in dry dock in Scotland, some parts from the HMS Prince of Wales will be stripped to replace broken parts in another vessel - her sister ship the HMS Queen Elizabeth.

It will include scavenging the ship’s
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and fuel filters, which separate seawater from diesel in the fuel tanks, as well as one of the chains from its flight desk lifts, which carry fighter jets from interior hangers up to the flight deck.

It comes after a link in one of the chains broke on the HMS Queen Elizabeth, which was deemed too expensive to replace immediately.
According to the Royal Navy, the process known as “equipment cannibalisation” saves time and money.

Repairs to the HMS Prince of Wales are set to cost around £25 million although the navy insists that it will still be operational within the agreed timeframe.

A Royal Navy spokesman said: “We remain committed to ensuring HMS Prince of Wales commences her operational programme as planned, in autumn 2023, including operational flying training and trials.

“It is not unusual for equipment to be transferred between ships of the same class to ensure operational availability and avoid delays.
“We do not provide a running commentary on the specific details of ships undergoing repair or maintenance.”
Wait does that mean they practically retire Prince of Wales?
 

Atomicfrog

Major
Registered Member
Wait does that mean they practically retire Prince of Wales?
Damage is so important that it will take a long time for Prince of Wales to be repaired, long enough to replace these vampirised parts.

These two ships would probably be used in rotation but for a long time only one will work. So everything facilitating maintenance will be done even taking part of the second to maintain it.
 
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gelgoog

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
They claim the Prince of Wales would be operational late this year in the autumn. Which is bollocks. You do not fix issues with the propellers that easily. The Charles de Gaulle for example, had issues with the propellers, they cracked, and they had to make new ones, and it took years to fix. Made worse by the fact it used extra large propellers which were made by one single place in France which had gone bankrupt. If they could fix the Prince of Wales this autumn, why would they take parts out of it to put in the Queen Elizabeth? Can't they wait a season or two? You are telling me they cannot afford to pay to get a broken link for an anchor chain, and they can fix two propellers for a carrier? Good luck.
 
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zavve

New Member
Registered Member
They claim the Prince of Wales would be operational late this year in the autumn. Which is bollocks. You do not fix issues with the propellers that easily
It has been in drydock since October 2022. A new starboard propeller has already been supplied by Kongsberg. The drydocking is being combined with CIP (Capability Insertion Period), which will most likely be longer than the shaft repair.
The Charles de Gaulle for example, had issues with the propellers, they cracked, and they had to make new ones, and it took years to fix. Made worse by the fact it used extra large propellers which were made by one single place in France which had gone bankrupt.
It did not take years to fix as the old propellers of the Clemenceau were used as a stop-gap. The replacements took 6 months. You must be referring to the fact that the original spec propellers took 7 years to be fitted to the carrier but that is more a problem for manufacturing rather than the process of actually installing the parts.
If they could fix the Prince of Wales this autumn, why would they take parts out of it to put in the Queen Elizabeth? Can't they wait a season or two? You are telling me they cannot afford to pay to get a broken link for an anchor chain, and they can fix two propellers for a carrier? Good luck
It's a pretty standard procedure to use parts of a non-operational ship to better the other ships' availability. For example, why wait weeks for a replacement part to be manufactured when you can take a part of the HMS PoW to better the availability of the high readiness carrier (HMS QE) then when the replacement part arrives, you use it on the HMS PoW.
Wait does that mean they practically retire Prince of Wales?
No. This is just a good example of how the British tabloids distort the facts.
 

Dragon of War

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HMS Prince of Wales to be 'cannibalised' following mechanical failure​

24th April

A £3 BILLION warship which was only declared fully operational in 2021 is to be partially stripped for parts following a major mechanical failure.

The HMS Prince of Wales, which was built at Rosyth Dockyard between 2011 and 2019, was expected to be ready for frontline duties in the Royal Navy by 2023.

However, the aircraft carrier broke down due to technical issues in August 2022 during a long-planned visit to the USA.
Occurring off the coast of the Isle of Wight, the ship was less than 24 hours into its planned crossing of the Atlantic.

The issues centre around the starboard propeller although the portside propellor also needs to be replaced, according to the Mail on Sunday.

Now, while in dry dock in Scotland, some parts from the HMS Prince of Wales will be stripped to replace broken parts in another vessel - her sister ship the HMS Queen Elizabeth.

It will include scavenging the ship’s
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
and fuel filters, which separate seawater from diesel in the fuel tanks, as well as one of the chains from its flight desk lifts, which carry fighter jets from interior hangers up to the flight deck.

It comes after a link in one of the chains broke on the HMS Queen Elizabeth, which was deemed too expensive to replace immediately.
According to the Royal Navy, the process known as “equipment cannibalisation” saves time and money.

Repairs to the HMS Prince of Wales are set to cost around £25 million although the navy insists that it will still be operational within the agreed timeframe.

A Royal Navy spokesman said: “We remain committed to ensuring HMS Prince of Wales commences her operational programme as planned, in autumn 2023, including operational flying training and trials.

“It is not unusual for equipment to be transferred between ships of the same class to ensure operational availability and avoid delays.
“We do not provide a running commentary on the specific details of ships undergoing repair or maintenance.”

What a string of failures, wish they'd stop wasting tax money on faulty "Made in Britain" junk vessels. Now we wait for the string of failures to occur with the other carriers, Britain is punching way above its weight nowadays trying to build/maintain a carrier fleet. It's really only doing it to appease its protector across the pond, there is no natural threat in immediate distance within British seas, it's surrounded by friendly highly developed nations yet still feels the needs to isolate itself and play mr anti-social. Not even that boogeyman they prop up so much RU has a operational carrier, it's purely for South East Asia power projection.
 

zavve

New Member
Registered Member
Very much overkill. Something like a Cavour or America class would have been ideal but they had to go for something bigger for reasons.
The QEC are meant to be operational for up to 50 years so they made it very large. If you look at the upgrade potential of something like the Cavour it's negligible compared to the QEC which can be refitted as a CATOBAR carrier given the funds. They went bigger due to their own experience with a light carrier design.
 
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