11 Reasons Why Our New Aircraft Carriers Are Totally Awesome

Building the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers is the most complex engineering project ever to happen in the UK. And they are going to be amazing, here’s why…

1. Aircraft carriers have been around a surprisingly long time, since the First World War in fact.

Via Pictures of HMS Eagle and our new carrier

And the new carriers will be the largest & most powerful warships ever built for the Royal Navy.

2. The aircraft carriers will each weigh 65,000 tonnes, that’s the same as 10,800 elephants.

Via original image Flickr: thelivelygirl

You’d need a lot of buns to feed those elephants.

3. And to feed the crew of one of our aircraft carriers...

Via Flickr: roboppy

...a typical deployment will sail with 66,000 sausages, 28,800 bacon rashers, 64,800 eggs & 12,000 tins of beans.

4. There are more than 800 apprentices working on the carrier.

Via BBC via the Mirror

That’s as many as would be on 52 series of The Apprentice. That's one show a year until 2066.

5. The ramp on the carriers is called the ‘Ski-jump’ – and it’s a British innovation.

Via Aircraft Carrier Alliance/Getty images via Gloucestershireecho.com

We’re not sure what Eddie the Eagle would make of it.

6. 80,000 tonnes of steel is on order for the ships, that’s enough steel for 3 Wembley Stadiums.

Via Aircraft Carrier Alliance

This picture shows a tiny bit of one of the ships and it’s still massive!

7. Our carriers are made out of 17 million parts.

Via Aircraft Carrier Alliance

And they are being put together at the Rosyth Shipyard in Scotland by a big blue crane.

8. Each of the carriers will have 50 years in service, which means a lot of her crew are not yet born.

Via Royal Navy media archive

Did you know that the Royal Navy and RAF Reserves are recruiting? Maybe you could be on the carrier one day!

9. It's made in Britain in all senses.

Via Aircraft Carrier Alliance

The carriers are being built in Rosyth Scotland and 90% of all suppliers are here in the UK.

10. The QE Carriers will fly the F-35B, which is a STOVL aircraft – standing for short take-off, vertical landing.

Via Defence Imagery

You can see one doing its thing this summer in the UK at the Royal International Air Tattoo and the Farnborough International Air Show.

11. The first carrier is being officially named by the Queen on the 4th July.

Via Flickr: britishmonarchy

The ship has 3,000 compartments, that’s 2,225 more rooms than in Buckingham Palace – although probably not as posh.