HMS Queen Elizabeth: Leak found on new aircraft carrier

I read this and thought it must be a huge leak.

...but then it boils down to it we're talking a litre of water every 15-20 seconds through a prop shaft seal.

If that's the worst they can find then the new HMS QE must be bloomin' great!

Jon

I would have thought that was what you might expect on shafts and seals of that size and most certainly within the capacity of bilge pumps to shift it without even noticing.

Do we have another example of media hype and hysteria here?

Brian

HMS Queen Elizabeth: Leak found on new aircraft carrier

The UK's new aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, is leaking because of a faulty seal.

The Royal Navy's future flagship, which was commissioned by the Queen earlier this month in Portsmouth, has a problem with one of its propeller shafts.

The fault on the £3.1bn carrier was first identified during sea trials.

A Royal Navy spokesman said the ship is scheduled for repair and the fault does not prevent it from sailing again early in the new year.

According to the Sun newspaper, HMS Queen Elizabeth has been taking on up to 200 litres of sea water every hour because of the fault.

**LINK**

Maybe they'll manage to fix it by the time we have some aircraft for it.

Brian

I thought Sea Trials were partly to make sure everything worked and find any unexpected problems?

Edited for spelling.

Edited By V8Eng on 19/12/2017 09:33:27

Can't they drill a hole to let the water out !!!

My old boss at Rolls-Royce used to say " Never believe what you are told, and only half what you see"

A rather jaundiced view of things perhaps, but if the Sun reports a leak of that size through a prop shaft seal, who are we to argue with the might of our well informed press? Who indeed!!

See my earlier post. If true, the leak is still only 40 gallons an hour, about as much as a fast dripping tap. The press needs to get a sense of perspective.

Brian

At 70,600 tonnes she'd take 40 years to sink at that rate if they left it

Edited By Jon Gibbs on 19/12/2017 09:31:22

Unfortunately trial by media in many things seems to be all too prevalent lately.

The media never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Tony

To be fair, it's not just the Sun, it's being almost universally reported today.

I first saw the story on BBC Breakfast at about 6.30 this morning.

Edited By V8Eng on 19/12/2017 09:48:45

Engineering wise, I would not be worried about the leak but rather about the cause for the leak. Something isn't right because it's not functioning as it should.

regards Martin

The press had a field day with this story this morning. By picking on a tiny fault they are holding the Royal Navy and Britain up to international ridicule. Have they no pride in their own nation? As a (mostly retired) journalist I am disgusted by the antics of the media these days. Shame on them!

An old Navy guy would just give it a few taps with a Coventry spanner on the night watch

The modern navy guys will probbly spend a couple of million sorting it out

Edited By Ady1 on 19/12/2017 10:07:46

Question to ask is how much water might be taken in if the (faulty) seal actually failed completely. A dripping tap of the historical brass seat type would soon drip much faster due to the brass being cut away by the initial tiny water jet under pressure.

But, yes, it is a relatively trivial problem to get sorted, I would think. Probably need extra greasy packing, or for the gland nut to be tightened half a turn!

All gone to pot (?) since the advent of inside toilets and soft toilet paper.

Regards Ian.

Outside toilets on ships are not such a good idea

Ships in Nelsons time had outside toilets, they were called heads.

Brian

Fortunately for the Navy no one in the media has noticed that their aircraft carrier has no aircraft yet