Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier sets sail tonight

Bickaxe · 26 Jun 2017 at 17:33

ChroniC said:
Are either going to be stationed in Portsmouth?

Provided they fit. It will get down here and realise the harbour needs dredging again as its still too shallow.
Will be quite a sight though.

Firestar_3x · 26 Jun 2017 at 17:46

Django x2 said:
Don't forget it won't be operational for another few years yet, hence the lack of planes.

The US will be flying off them before we do.

Big Spender · 26 Jun 2017 at 18:48

Got a couple of more potato quality pictures

The Funktopus · 26 Jun 2017 at 19:51

Nasher said:
They should get Clarkson to drive it out. Would be a good episode of TGT.

Probably best not to let Hammond get behind the wheel though...

StriderX · 26 Jun 2017 at 20:27

I'd lol if it sank for whatever reason. I wonder what it's escort is?

Amp34 · 26 Jun 2017 at 20:28

matt_fsr said:
Spectacularly retarded defence procurement decisions. Same as the reason why they weren't fitted with conventional catapults.

And also a nightmare to get permission to enter ports.

Doogles · 26 Jun 2017 at 20:29

StriderX said:
I'd lol if it sank for whatever reason.

If it sinks please do a video on Youtube with your "Reaction"

awaybreaktoday · 26 Jun 2017 at 20:34

Why not just but Russian fighter jets?

Gerard · 26 Jun 2017 at 20:35

awaybreaktoday said:
Why not just but Russian fighter jets?

Wut?

beachBOYken · 26 Jun 2017 at 20:37

Is it going for sea trials first before it docks at Portsmouth?

Warranty_V0id · 26 Jun 2017 at 21:00

It's a stupid waste of money, look at the American carrier groups. We have to few surface ships to protect it with, in a proper war it would be sunk in minutes.

IronWarrior · 26 Jun 2017 at 21:13

Warranty_V0id said:
It's a stupid waste of money, look at the American carrier groups. We have to few surface ships to protect it with, in a proper war it would be sunk in minutes.

Yes, in a a real war with modern nations slugging it out, but all we do these days is bully third world nations like Iraq and Syria.

Rroff · 26 Jun 2017 at 21:16

Ultimately we are an island nation in a powerful defensive position though - its utter madness we don't the ability to run a couple of carrier fleets given the power in combination with land based systems in protecting our shores whatever the situation whether it ever comes to it or not.

Dis86 · 26 Jun 2017 at 21:16

That is one fantastic looking vessel.

StriderX · 26 Jun 2017 at 21:21

Rroff said:
Ultimately we are an island nation in a powerful defensive position though - its utter madness we don't the ability to run a couple of carrier fleets given the power in combination with land based systems in protecting our shores whatever the situation whether it ever comes to it or not.

We tried that once in Suez, the Americans told us to **** off and rightly our navy was scrapped.

Housey · 26 Jun 2017 at 21:22

The current schedule for those asking, debating, guessing as it stood fairly recently.

Rroff · 26 Jun 2017 at 21:25

StriderX said:
We tried that once in Suez, the Americans told us to **** off and rightly our navy was scrapped.

That is a different scenario to homeland defence.

IronWarrior · 26 Jun 2017 at 21:26

I do agree we should have a bigger navy and few carrier groups like the US does, but can we afford to have all that?

Seems they make a big deal about the price of these two carriers and than, they went cheap with it by making them none nuclear, no catapults and ditching the best planes we wanted for them.

Everything we do in his country is half-assed. :/

The flats with the bad cladding is a good example on how ****** people do things so our navy being screwed too is no surprise.

Oh well, least we have two carriers again.

StriderX · 26 Jun 2017 at 21:28

The real issue is staffing, the Navy barely does anything anyway bar Trident and a few Nuclear subs.

There is precious little carrier experience like in the 50s, it's not really an issue if you have zero carriers though.

Rroff · 26 Jun 2017 at 21:32

IronWarrior said:
The flats with the bad cladding is a good example on how ****** people do things so our navy being screwed too is no surprise.

Lets hope we don't have a cladding moment in relation to our defensive needs - same kind of attitudes really at play - complacency at the potential for anything other than the prevailing relatively benign conditions.