Babcock starts work on aircraft carriers project
Wednesday 21 September 2011 8:49 AM
Work has begun on two of the largest warships ever built for the Royal Navy.
Peter Luff, Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology, was at the site in Rosyth, Fife, as the Goliath crane swung into action, signalling the beginning of construction on the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers.
Goliath, one of Europe’s biggest cranes, is preparing to lift the first sections of the 65,000-tonne vessels into place at Babcock’s shipyard later this week.
The construction project is said to be worth billions of pounds to the Scottish and Westcountry economies and will create and sustain thousands of jobs.
Mr Luff was given a tour of the docks and met members of the workforce.
He said: “This is an exciting week for the carrier programme and it is a huge privilege to witness what can only be described as history in the making.”
The vessels are being delivered by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA), made up
of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), Babcock – which runs the commercial dockyards in Plymouth and Appledore in North Devon – BAE Systems and Thales.
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