The Wall_Spring 2023_Issue 9

Tymon Zbierski, (he/him), LVI, describes the UK’s new edition of aircraft carriers, the differences with their USA counterparts and what these ships mean for the future of naval development.

speed of 25 knots.This means they can cross the Atlantic in about a week and a half, allowing them to respond rapidly to any threat.

Despite the considerable size difference of the Queen Elizabeth class (with a weight of 65,000 tonnes compared to the dreadnoughts of the USA at 100,000 tonnes), Britain’s carriers are the most modern in the world, operating arguably the best fighter-bomber in the world: the F-35B. The F-35B is a STOVL variant of the Lockheed Martin-produced warplane that first entered service in 2015 with the US Marine corps, which is now rolled out to dozens of nations in the NATO coalition. Before that came the legendary F-22 and, specifically for the British, the Sea Harrier.The Harrier was an almost mythic fighter; it was the first western STOVL fighter meaning it could take off on short runways or vertically.The plane gained legendary notoriety in Argentina when it decimated the Argentinian air force during the Falklands war, destroying 23 aircraft for none of their own losses in dogfights. These two highly capable and deadly dreadnoughts serve not only to strike targets anywhere, anytime but also to protect Britain’s interests across the globe.These carriers will give the UK the capability to become, once again, a geopolitical heavyweight, in an era which is devolving into great power politics.

Aircraft carriers, originally launched in 1955, have become the ultimate behemoth of naval power, able to highlight a nation’s dominance at sea whilst functioning as a floating airfield for planes to strike targets far from home.The UK’s carrier strike group has become increasingly obsolete as Britain’s influence in the world and status as a superpower recede into the pages of history. But, in the past five years, the situation has begun to change with the commissioning of two of the largest and most advanced warships built by the Royal Navy. The Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers, named after the late monarch, weigh 65,000 tonnes and are the most modern naval vessels in the Royal Navy, with the ‘Queen Elizabeth’ being commissioned in 2017 and the ‘Prince ofWales’ in 2019.Together they cost a total of £7 billion.The two boats are the nation’s flagships and the first Royal Navy aircraft carriers to use gas turbine engines, resulting in an average

A large difference between the British carriers and those of the United States Navy (USN) is that, unlike the American catapult system, the Elizabeth class utilise the ‘Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing’ (STOVL) system to launch aircraft.They have only a very short runway on which to take off, so they must use a ramp (called a “ski jump”) at the end of the runway to gain altitude, unlike the USN catapult system where the plane is launched rapidly off the carrier.

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