Member Article

A&P Tyne completes Naval order ahead of schedule

A&P Tyne have completed its section of Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, the biggest warship ever built in the UK, five weeks ahead of schedule.

The £55 million order involved the construction of part of the flight deck and hangar, and will soon be transported to Rosyth, where the ship is being assembled. Many of the men working on the project were also involved in building the Ark Royal aircraft carrier 30 years ago.

The project reminds A&P Project Tyne Project Director of the days when shipbuilding was the main industry on the Tyne, and is pleased by the buzz the project has created within the workers.

He commented: “It’s much bigger than the Ark Royal, it’s the biggest warship ever built in the UK and it’s brought shipbuilding back to the Tyne.

“To know you’ve been part of building something this impressive fills everyone at the yard with a sense of pride. It’s been a real boost to morale. “

The section build by A&P Tyne measures 63 metres long, 40 metres wide and six metres deep, with a total weight of 3000 tons.

Managing Director at A&P Tyne, Stewart Boak, extended his thanks to everyone involved in producing a “magnificent example of UK manufacturing.”

He said: “We have constructed what is a significant section of what will be the largest naval surface vessel ever built in the UK, the Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carrier.

“A total build time of 18 months and when completed over half a million man hours will have been invested in this part of the project.”

The yard is now looking forward to the second half of the contract to construct further unitls for HMS Prince of Wales.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .