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HMS Queen Elizabeth

17K views 71 replies 34 participants last post by  skilly57 
#1 ·
According to newspaper reports they are "replacing 284 hull valves", seems a bit strange, any clues as to why?
 
#38 ·
She is in a period of infantile failures - the steep downward slope of her bathtub failures curve. Every ship you were ever on will have experienced this to some extent.

Do not panic. The people that built her will have not only done a better job than most of us but a good job too.
 
#40 ·
I realise that there are two separate issues here, but the way it's written made me smile....
How did a shaft seal leak trigger the hangar sprinklers? (EEK)

"The UK's new aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, has returned from sea trials early after a leak was found.
Water leaked into an internal compartment, where it was contained.

This latest problem follows a number of other issues including a shaft seal leak, which caused water to pour into the ship, and the accidental triggering of the sprinklers in the hangar.
"

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-48933881
 
#41 ·
The other thing is, 'internal compartment' , if it had been an external compartment it would have just run over the side.
Yes the shaft tunnel is perhaps the furthest from the hanger sprinklers.
Did somebody leave a valve open on the Bilge/ballast/ fire pump and overpressured the sprinklers?

Much the same way with the QE2, How did heavy oil get in the boiler sight glass?
Somebody piped it up wrong.

I assume the Navy Press Office passed the information on to the Beeb. So with much editing this is what you end up with.
The old chestnut,
Message outgoing " Send reinforcements , we are going to advance"

Message received via various departments:
" Send 3/4d we are going to a dance ".
(Pint):confused:
 
#46 ·
On the subject of RN ships flooding, dit on. I was onboard HMS Fife alongside The Belfast (old ships). I was duty engineering PO when I heard the main broadcast, 'Flood, Flood, Flood. Flood on the bridge.' I thinks to my self we is in trouble here if the bridge is flooded. I stepped out of the mess in The Great Glen (main drag/ Burma way to see the river Thames cascading down the ladderway from the deck above. Story short, the air relief Vv on the fire-main in the Admirals bridgeheads had failed. thereby pumping the Thames at 100psi into the ship. Apart from mogging up the table laid out for the reception of all previous captains of Fife we did not sink.
 
#48 ·
My experience of new merchant ships is that equipment is set to work during the last few weeks alongside followed by a day at sea to confirm speed etc. Minor problems are sorted out by the Superintendent, Master and Chief being Dashed a few bob for the crew to bring things up to scratch.

Naval ships invariably go through months of FATS, HATS and SATS, integration of electronic equipment being paramount. Minor problems should be put on a defect list to be attended to next time in port. Dash is not a RN tradition.

The carry-on with HMS QE leads one to believe that either there are major problems on board or that there are minor problems being amplified by disaffected persons for some strange reason. Hundreds of the ships company with smart phones doesn't help but one gets the impression that morale may not be high on that unit.
 
#49 ·
Last new build sea trial in 2018, 50,000mt product tankers, was 5 days of extensive testing. All tanks were filled and emptied. All systems were tested. Minor hiccups were corrected or listed for remedy back alongside. In deep water both anchors were wound out fully then retrieved. Speed runs, steering tests etc. They weren’t cruises by any means. A cast of many most sleeping two to a single cabin or more in senior staterooms. Very intense but interesting trips.
 
#50 ·
#49 sounds just like all seatrials of merchant ships that I went on during the 1960s/'70s and '80s while working as a radio technician. Three-day trials were the norm, with repeats if things were not sorted.
 
#51 ·
Wasn't that the ship the the Old Man got done for using the ships hire car for personel use and he was very popular with everybody. He even paid for the petrol, so the Navy was out to get him. Perhaps this upset everybody and they are letting the press hear stuff.
If Whitehall and the FCO can leak emails then the boys can let the odd reporter know a few things and hope they get a week in drydock and shore leave.
 
#52 ·
Very simple answer to the 284 valves being replaced.

To reduce the amount of time the HMS Queen Elizabeth is in drydock - all the ships side valves were replaced, the removed valves will be overhauled and used on HMS Prince of Wales drydock.

The original intention was to have 3 aircraft carrier - 'smart drydocking' reduces the time the vessel is out of service.
 
#53 ·
I have recently read the Battle for the Atlantic, an excellent book regarding the U boat war, we were lucky that Hitler had the obsession with big ships, rather than as Donitez wanted to build u boats to starve us.

Looking at these two aircraft carriers is this dogma still prevailing, we have two aircraft carriers nothing to fly of them, nothing to surround them for protection when they put to see.

Look at a US battlle fleet protecting there carriers when at sea.

We need frigates but all the money has gone into this big ship obsession, I am surprised there is enough nan power to actually man them to full strength.
 
#54 ·
There was a clip on the news the other day about the RN Fleet being vastly increased. I only caught it once, and might just have been an election ploy. I agree that we need more destroyers & frigates as we have (Or will have) all our eggs in two large baskets.
 
#57 ·
Basil,
You didn't answer the question.
In what instances would a LH threaded valve be used, I cannot say I have ever come across one.
You always told the apprentice to ask for a ball of Whitworth thread, and make sure its right handed when you sent him to the stores.
 
#58 · (Edited)
Basil,
You didn't answer the question.
In what instances would a LH threaded valve be used
, I cannot say I have ever come across one.
You always told the apprentice to ask for a ball of Whitworth thread, and make sure its right handed when you sent him to the stores.


OK, only if that's what you were presented with because of the manufacturing constraints which I mentioned. e.g. a gate v/v with the thread going into the gate.
VERY counter-intuitive and confusing.

p.s. in my day you sent the apprentice to stores for a long stand :rolleyes:
 
#61 · (Edited)
Don't know about LH V/V's, but do recall that the retaining nut on the RH rotating propeller boss was a LH thread

Will be travelling for a few days, looks like I'm in for a lot of wet weather driving, always found at sea that the Kent Clearview rotating screen was better than windscreen wipers. Wonder if the Kent on a car would be legal!
 
#63 ·
We have quality vs quantity. The type 45 is renown for having the best air defence system in the world. The US battle groups will ask a type 45 to take over air defence duties when up the Gulf.

The F35 planes fly & land and time is needed for military electronic information to be shared between the plane, astute submarine, type 45 and aircraft carrier - this electronic information sharing gives a world leading defence force.
The battle group also consist of a couple of new MARs takers, Fort Victoria as solid support and new type 26 frigates under construction.
The astute submarine is a formidable deterrent combined with type 45 gives good protection to the carrier
 
#71 ·
In K-Mart years ago when, amongst all the other stuff, they sold car batteries. I had bought a battery and lifted it from the trolley to the check out for the young bird to scan it.

It didn't scan for some reason so, in a flash of light, bird tips it over presumably looking for a bar-code on the bottom. It wasn't one of those sealed types so acid starts to run out on the bench. By this time I had realised what she was doing and about to do so was able to stop her. She had grabbed a plastic grocery type carry bag and was about to launch into the acid with it.

Thankfully, there was a heap of water bottles on a stand nearby from which I grabbed one and poured it onto the spill.

No they didn't teach kids anything in schools then either.
 
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