British Supercarriers to be built in Scotland

The largest Aircraft Carriers outside of the USA will be built in Scotland.

This has been on the cards for a while now but a recent contract signing has brought the deal another step closer to reality.

With a total price tag of 4 Billion pounds, the two Royal Navy carriers to be named HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales will be in service within 6 to 8 years and weighing in at 65,000 Tonnes, they will be the largest vessels ever built for the Royal Navy.

These ships form the largest components of a massive modernisation of the UK's armed forces and the Royal Navy in particular with other equipment such as...

• 6 x Type 45 Daring-Class Destroyers to enter service by 2014
  
• 2 x Albion class Landing Platform Docks (LPD) commissioned 2003 and 2004
• 3 x River-Class offshore patrol ships
  
• F-35 Lightning II to replace the Harrier
• Wave-Class and Bay-Class Auxiliary ships

In addition to the surface ships the Royal Navy will also acquire a class of brand new "Astute" class of attack submarines.

In Scotland the massive Supercarriers hulls will be partly built on on the Clyde and then moved to be assembled in Rosyth.

Each carrier will have two propellers driven by an electric motor, making them the largest warships in the world to use electric rather than mechanical drive technology.

Rear Admiral Bob Love said: "This latest propulsion technology will significantly improve fuel efficiency enabling uninterrupted long distance deployments and reducing running costs."

With all this construction, it is great news for the ship builders of the UK and especially in Scotland. These deals will secure the jobs of many workers for years to come.

I for one cannot wait to see these behemoths in the water, lets just hope that the UK government don't cancel or scale back the order given whats happening in the Financial crisis.

Muzzerino