The largest warship to be built in Britain, the 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, built to Lloyd’s Register class, recently arrived in her home port of Portsmouth following more than two months of sea trials in the North Sea.
LR will provide continued support on the vessel’s final trials and, together with the UK MoD, are exploring means of surveying the ship effectively and efficiently, using novel methods to assure the continued integrity and safety.
LR has been a part of this project from its inception with more than 20 surveyors and specialists working directly on the surveys of the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers under its Naval Ship Rules. A number of other LR specialists have also been involved with the design approval, specialist technical support and certification of equipment and components.
The ship was constructed across six sites in the UK and LR provided support at each build location. Equipment has been surveyed and certified across the globe; around 4000 LR certificates have been issued to provide assurance of key items in the supply chain from the casting of steel through to the factory testing.
Paul James, UK&I Naval Business Manager, commented: "LR is proud to have been associated with the project from its inception. The technical challenges associated with the design and construction of such a complex ship have engaged the full range of technical skills and experience within LR. ACA have benefited from LR's wide range of large ship building and system design experience. From a personal perspective it has been great to be involved from the initial design stage and to now see the completed ship arrive at its home port.
"The LR team have greatly appreciated the collaborative nature of the project, solving technical problems together with ACA and developing integrated ways of working that have benefited both the client and LR. The duration of the project is unusual but LR has been able to provide a consistent support to assure the integrity and safety of the ship. We look forward to continuing that support for the next 30 years."