The repairs to fix HMS Prince of Wales – which broke down off the coast of Ventnor back in August 2022 – have risen to a staggering £25million this week.
The £3billion aircraft carrier was due to be undertaking training with the US Navy and Royal Canadian Navy but suffered a major breakdown back in August whilst just a few miles off Ventnor – just hours after leaving Portsmouth.
It was assisted back to the sheltered waters of The Solent by tugs, where divers inspected the damage below the waterline. It was thought that the main issue with the warship was that the 33-tonne starboard propeller – the same weight as 30 Ford Fiesta cars – had malfunctioned.
Since then, she has been undergoing repairs, meaning the huge carrier has now spent more time in dry dock than at sea.
It has been confirmed that costs to repair Britain’s largest warship have now spiralled to £25million. In March, reports suggested they would come to £20million and the Royal Navy was optimistic BAE Systems – a key partner in the £3.1billion ship’s construction – would fund the repair, but in the past 3 months the repair bill has climbed by £5million.
It has recently been claimed by industry experts that footing the £25million bill was cheaper than taking out an ‘extended warranty’ on the ship which is designed to last around 50 years.
At this stage it is unclear as to when repairs will be completed by.
To last 50yrs, sail millions of miles?. Yet broke down off IOW not even a yr old or underwarrenty and only a few hundred miles. In war the time to repair they could of built a new one. Was anyone from same that built floating bridge ?.
Does this make sense if I read it backwards? Freddie seems to be a nom de plume for Jar Jar Binks!
Is English you first language?
It is also being cannibalized, in order to keep it’s sister ship Queen Elizabeth, going.
No more consortiums please. Just do not work. The companies involved were / are not besties. Many big projects have fallen into this pit of trust. If you look at the list of suppliers, most are repeat business pals. They are all nice and chummy to begin with and then tensions arise and back biting begins. We need a better procurement department which is not top heavy. Limited access from past regimes will be strictly limited. The Project Director must be cut throat and have a visible display of progress against budget. Every one is accountable.
It’s an absolute disgrace that we build two modern aircraft carriers and one can’t manage a years service, not to mention the fact they still have a long wait for all the aircraft that are needed for these ships to do their job. Who is handling the deals to the builders who messed up the props, we need to have an investigation into how we got into this mess. We used to make some of the best ships in the world now we seem to be lacking decent engineers.