Issue 9 Jan 2009.indd - Ministry of Defence

18
feature
defence equipment and support • • To equip and support our armed forces for operations now and in the future • • defence equipment and support •
It’s all in the preparation
at Rosyth
If you see huge sections of warship on barges
inching their way up the UK coast in a few
years’ time, chances are they are on their way
to Rosyth. Work is under way to prepare the
Firth of Forth yard’s No 1 dock – originally built
in 1916 – to accommodate the two massive 65,000
tonne aicraft carriers to be in service in the next
decade.
The yard contains the largest non-tidal basin
for ship repair in the UK and Babcock Marine is
working to increase the capacity of the dock as
well as widening the entrance to allow entry of
the parts, and departure of the 280-metre long
56-metre high carriers. A £15 million 120-metre
span crane – nicknamed Goliath – is also being
installed to straddle the dock.
Up to 150 staff from BAM Nuttall are doing
the engineering in a £35 million contract with
Babcock on behalf of the Aircraft Carrier
Alliance, which also includes BVT Surface Fleet,
Thales UK, BAE Systems and DE&S as both
participant and client. There are workers from
around 50 other sub-contractors also working on
site.
Work on No 1 dock began last March and is set
to be completed by summer 2010.
“The project is in full swing and on schedule,”
said Sean Donaldson, Babcock’s carrier project
director at Rosyth. “The first parts of the first
carrier will arrive in the summer of 2011, so we
are not going to be short of things to do in the
next few years.”
While contracts to build the carriers were only
signed earlier this year staff at Rosyth have been
preparing for the work for at least two years.
“The work presents some challenges because it
is related to old structures and, as the majority is
below ground and in a marine environment, the
project has significant risks,” said Mr Donaldson.
“We have spent two years on site investigations
and de-risking activity to get to this stage. But
working with the MOD we knew that investing
the money up front would save us much in the
long term.”
The first carrier should be in dock for between
18 and 24 months. Assembly of the second will
begin soon afterwards. It is a complex logistical
process. “It is a joint team doing the integration,
led by BVT, to make sure all the pieces of the
puzzle do fit together,” said Mr Donaldson. “It
is a very challenging timeline but it is in all our
interests to make sure everyone comes together.
We are all incentivised to work together to
complete the project.
“We were refitting nuclear submarines
at Rosyth until 2001 and they were massively
complex projects. We have also refitted each of
the current aircraft carriers. But we are certainly
not complacent. We have had a team in place,
three years ahead, to make sure we can complete
this task.”
The dock is long enough to accommodate
each vessel but its cross section is unsuitable for
modern warship building, the ship’s hull being
flat-bottomed rather than the traditional V-shape.
Huge granite steps, known as altars, that stick
out from the side of the dock are being cut back
to the width of the top tier. The dock floor will be
nine metres wider when they have been removed.
Work is now underway to widen the main
entrance to the Rosyth basin from the Firth of
Forth. The 38-metre wide entrance features a
sliding gate to hold the tidal water back but is
soon to be increased to 42 metres. A 25-metre
deep wall will be installed behind the existing
entrance wall to allow excavation work, with
The Royal Navy’s two
new aircraft carriers
will be assembled in
Rosyth early in the
next decade.
Work is already well
under way to make
sure the dockyard is
ready
Report: Steve Moore
the void filled with concrete. This will a
existing entrance wall to be demolished
the final face of the new entrance is inst
Goliath is due to arrive in August 20
handover soon after. Built by Shanghai
Port Machinery, the 68-metre gantry cr
straddle the dock will be able to lift up t
tonnes from three hooks, two suspende
upper trolley and one from a central, low
which will have a capacity of 500 tonne
The individual capacity of each of th
hooks provides valuable flexibility in lif
awkward loads and will allow units or b
be turned over. Nearly 90 reinforced co
bored piles are being socketed three me
the underlying rock on the eastern side
dock as foundations for the crane with f
piles driven up to seven metres into roc
western side.
The crane will arrive partially erecte
the newly-widened dockyard entrance a
‘skidded’ from ship to shore onto the cr
DE&S visitors to the dockyard to see
progress Babcock are making have incl
Director Capital Ships, Tony Graham, w
the works in the autumn.
“This is an exciting time for the CVF
as, around the UK, we make final prepa
cutting of steel on the ships in early 09,”
“For stability, the Goliath crane will
two uprights either side of the dock and
a towering icon of engineering endeavo
industrial capability.
“In this sense, it parallels an ever-re
world class carrier strike capability rest
it does on the two iconic ships – HMS Q
Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales – lif
Royal Navy into a new modern age.”
‘We are certainly not complacent. We have had a team in place, three years ahead, to make sure we can complete this t