A huge section of new aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, has started the 600 mile journey from the BAE Systems Clyde shipyard round Scotland to Rosyth.
Workers at BAE Systems moved the huge mid section of HMS Queen
Elizabeth, the first of the new aircraft carriers for the Royal
Navy, out the company's shipbuilding hall at Govan on Friday 29
July, giving the public a spectacular view of the scale of the
giant warship.
After six months of planning, a team of 10 will move the 8,000
tonne mid section, known as Lower Block 03, 200 metres across the
specially reinforced tarmac at the yard in just one hour using 64
remote controlled transporters.
Steven Carroll, Queen Elizabeth Class Project Director at BAE
Systems, said: "I'm extremely proud of the team's huge achievement
today, being on track to successfully load the mid section of the
hull out of our hall on time and built to an exceptional
standard.
"This is the culmination of months of preparation and is only
possible because of the strong partnership with our Carrier
Alliance partners, the skills of our workforce here on the Clyde
and of the thousands of people working on the programme across
every region of the UK. It is a fantastic showcase for British
engineering."
On Sunday, the block was onto one of the two biggest sea-going
barges in the world in preparation for her 600 mile journey,
starting on 16 August, taking her round the north coast of Scotland
to Rosyth where the aircraft carrier will be assembled.
Marking the occasion, over 50 cyclists will leave the Govan yard
on the same day to take on a gruelling 500 mile cycle around the
north of Scotland in an attempt to 'beat the block' to its final
destination and raise money for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines
Charity.
Source: BAE
Systems