Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

The UK's brand new €3.5 billion aircraft carrier is leaking

A Rear Admiral told the BBC it’s “very embarrassing” but “in reality is no big deal”.

HMS Queen Elizabeth Steve Parsons / PA Images Steve Parsons / PA Images / PA Images

THE HMS QUEEN Elizabeth was accepted into the Royal Navy fleet by the Queen earlier this month, but it’s already sprung a leak.

The mammoth €3.5 billion aircraft carrier is the biggest and most powerful ever built in the UK. It’s also been leaking for quite some time, taking on around 200 litres of water an hour.

A Royal Navy spokesperson said: “An issue with a shaft seal has been identified during HMS Queen Elizabeth’s sea trials. This is scheduled for repair while she is alongside at Portsmouth.

It does not prevent her from sailing again and her sea trials programme will not be affected.

The carrier has a flight deck that is 280m long, houses 700 crew and has 155,000 miles of electrical cable inside the ship. Nearly 10,000 people worked to build the ship.

HMS Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth talks to the carrier's crew during the commissioning of the aircraft carrier. Chris Jackson / PA Images Chris Jackson / PA Images / PA Images

Speaking to the BBC, Rear Admiral Chris Parry, who was a former director of operational capability at the Ministry of Defence, described the headlines as “very embarrassing” but “in reality is no big deal”.

He said: “You expect to take some water in when you’re operating a warship at sea.

It’s been out for sea trials, it’s been under pressure. They’ve been testing all their systems to the extremes and I’m afraid to say this is what happens at sea.

Read: ‘We are in the middle of a tragedy’: Argentina gives up search for 44 missing sailors

Read: US Navy plane carrying 11 passengers crashes into Philippine Sea off coast of Japan

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
78 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brown Boots
    Favourite Brown Boots
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 6:56 PM

    Excellent… I can race those deliveroo guys now… You know, mount footpaths, run red lights, weave in and out of traffic… Owning the roads sort of thing!

    152
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seán
    Favourite Seán
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 6:58 PM

    @Brown Boots: yawn…..

    75
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nick Allen
    Favourite Nick Allen
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 7:10 PM

    @Brown Boots:

    That’s just your average cyclist your are describing and not just the Deliveroo guys

    71
    See 5 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brown Boots
    Favourite Brown Boots
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 7:22 PM

    @Seán: remember tale-spin, that was a really good cartoon that never really got the recognition it deserved. Hopefully one day it might. Mind you it was no Raccoons!

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gillian Weir Scully
    Favourite Gillian Weir Scully
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 7:47 PM

    @Nick Allen: accurate.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dub_Right
    Favourite Dub_Right
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 8:10 PM

    @Brown Boots: Great, I see the Dublin bike scheme is already taking Audiot’s and BMW drivers out of there cars who are usually breaking red lights, speeding, weaving in and out of traffic and generally owing the roads in their cars, on bicycles instead now!

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute P.J. Nolan
    Favourite P.J. Nolan
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 8:20 PM

    @Dub_Right:
    Nice one

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jazz Buckler
    Favourite Jazz Buckler
    Report
    Jul 24th 2017, 10:42 PM

    @Nick Allen: you’re not your*
    do your homework lad

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cillian McCormick
    Favourite Cillian McCormick
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 6:59 PM

    Its like having a marathon sponsered by McDonalds.

    93
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
    Favourite Fiona Fitzgerald
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 7:11 PM

    @Cillian McCormick: Could work. Especially if chased for 5 km by hungry seagulls.

    24
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nick Allen
    Favourite Nick Allen
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 7:11 PM

    @Cillian McCormick:

    Or even the GAA sponsored by Guinness.

    26
    See 2 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jho Harris
    Favourite Jho Harris
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 9:31 PM

    @Cillian McCormick: That website should be banned, “just eat” is disgusting and they are allowed to sponsor anything. Just eat, don’t breath, don’t do anything just eat; no thanks.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cian Nolan
    Favourite Cian Nolan
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 9:50 PM

    @Nick Allen: which it hasn’t been for the better part of a decade.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lurfic
    Favourite Lurfic
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 6:51 PM

    This is surely sponsored content??

    46
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute alphanautica
    Favourite alphanautica
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 7:25 PM

    @Lurfic: all content is sponsored – look to the left and right

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hughiealonso
    Favourite Hughiealonso
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 7:28 PM

    Hopefully the cycling infrastructure will be improved to keep cyclists safe. Less cars on the road, less emissions, less congestion. Everyone wins.

    36
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gillian Weir Scully
    Favourite Gillian Weir Scully
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 7:49 PM

    @Hughiealonso: cyclists can stay safe by following the rules of the road.

    33
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hughiealonso
    Favourite Hughiealonso
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 7:55 PM

    @Gillian Weir Scully: everyone should follow the rules of the road. Road users of all types don’t at times. Saying ‘some cyclists are dicks’ as a way of trying to discuss cyclists at large is bizarre and helps nobody

    27
    See 6 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Donal Balfe
    Favourite Donal Balfe
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 8:01 PM

    @Hughiealonso: She didn’t say some cyclists are dicks.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dub_Right
    Favourite Dub_Right
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 8:14 PM

    @Gillian Weir Scully: Rules of the road won’t save you from a speeding careless Van/truck or Gillian driver…

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hughiealonso
    Favourite Hughiealonso
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 8:16 PM

    @Donal Balfe: I paraphrased

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bilbo Baggins
    Favourite Bilbo Baggins
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 8:20 PM

    @Gillian Weir Scully: get out on a bike there in the city Gillian and see does your perspective change at all. Everybody needs too understand how to coexist on the road.

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simeon
    Favourite Simeon
    Report
    Jul 21st 2017, 7:00 AM

    @Gillian Weir Scully: Not if drivers don’t.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alan Kelly
    Favourite Alan Kelly
    Report
    Jul 21st 2017, 2:39 PM

    @Gillian Weir Scully: absolutely Gillian! We all need to take care on the road. Remember: cyclists are people! A very sad accident on our roads this morning…and not a cyclist in sight. Three women from Donegal die in Louth car crash
    https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0721/891937-louth-crash/

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Goose Gosling
    Favourite Goose Gosling
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 8:49 PM

    Kinda funny how Dublin Bikes have gone for another sponsor that don’t exactly promote healthy lifestyle. Who next? Marlboro? Buckfast?

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Linehan
    Favourite David Linehan
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 8:04 PM

    Ah yeah. Stay healthy by cycling but don’t forget to use justeat.ie for your nutritious take away dinner meals.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gavin Redmond
    Favourite Gavin Redmond
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 7:42 PM

    It’s hard to believe they claimed it was loss making, 66000 long term users @ 25 euro yearly subscription, and at the time coke paid a sponsorship of 2 million euros, does anyone know if it makes money now.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nick Allen
    Favourite Nick Allen
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 8:49 PM

    @Gavin Redmond:

    Revenue of about 2.3m is not much to run a company. Pay for bikes, maintenance, vandalism, staff, insurance, web site, payment system, bank charges, tax, rent and overheads etc.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute P.J. Nolan
    Favourite P.J. Nolan
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 9:26 PM

    @Nick Allen:
    It is state run, it cannot be allowed to make a profit, the unions would have a fit.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Marc Esteve
    Favourite Marc Esteve
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 9:40 PM

    To improve the service they should cancel the subscription of any user docking a bike in gear 1 and with the saddle completely lowered.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mick Tobin
    Favourite Mick Tobin
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 7:35 PM

    Fair enough, I guess Coke Zero doesn’t yield the energy needed for peddling a bike. It’d be like Irish Water sponsoring GoCar.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute
    Favourite
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 7:12 PM

    What happen to those other bikes, think Obike. Just released in London must have big backing thousands left all over London.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Kerry Blake
    Favourite Kerry Blake
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 7:15 PM

    Just eat on your bike and go for the healthy option……

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hubert Morris
    Favourite Hubert Morris
    Report
    Jul 21st 2017, 5:31 AM

    This has to be fake news

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pollux Malone
    Favourite Pollux Malone
    Report
    Jul 20th 2017, 8:27 PM

    Bravo Dublin bike on successful bike sharing scheme. Cycling gives so much energy to my day

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds