The Ship Model Forum

Britain's Big New Warship Still Runs Windows XP

HMS Queen Elizabeth is impressive. Her software is not.

Getty Jeff J. Mitchell
By Kyle Mizokami
Jun 28, 2017

HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Navy's newest vessel and the largest one ever built in the United Kingdom, is an impressive ship. Nine hundred and nineteen feet long with a crew of 1,600, the ship can carry up to 40 aircraft. Queen Elizabeth and her sister ship, Prince of Wales, will form the UK's main expeditionary force at sea, sailing into hotspots with their decks full of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

The brand new carrier left its dockyard in Rosyth for the first time on Monday, where it was assembled from subsections built all over the UK. The London-based newspaper The Guardian reported that computers running the positively ancient PC operating system were spotted on the carrier during a tour.
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First aircraft land on aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth
By
George Allison -
July 3, 2017

A Merlin helicopter has become first aircraft to land on HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The Royal Navy have announced the first in a series of aviation milestones for the supercarrier. According to the Royal Navy it fell to 26-year-old pilot Lieutenant Luke Wraith from Yorkshire to set the 14-tonne helicopter safely down on the aircraft carrier.

Lt Wraith, of 820 Naval Air Squadron said:

“I was pretty nervous – not about making a safe landing, but knowing that every other pilot in the Navy would watch the footage and critique it.

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i took a picture of the highest speed obtained .. slightly exceeding design peramiters..

HMS Queen Elizabeth exceeds stated maximum speed on trials
By
George Allison -
July 24, 2017

According to BAE, HMS Queen Elizabeth has a maximum speed of 25 knots but typically in projects like this these maximums are understated.

The 70,600 tonne vessel reached a speed of 27.1 knots according to AIS.

The automatic identification system (AIS) is a tracking system used for collision avoidance on ships and by vessel traffic services. Information provided by AIS equipment, such as unique identification, position, course, and speed, can be displayed on a screen or in a simpler format on many websites.(...SNIPPED)

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has announced that Britain’s iconic HMS Queen Elizabeth Carrier is set to enter her new home in Portsmouth in around two weeks’ time.

The 65,000-tonne Carrier, the biggest warship ever to be built in Britain, has been undergoing sea trials since setting sail from Scotland’s Rosyth dockyard in June. She is now set to make her historic arrival into Portsmouth, where she will be the latest in a long line of famous Royal Navy ships to call the port home.

Whilst weather conditions mean the exact date of the historic moment is yet to be confirmed, the window for entry will open next Thursday (17/08), with her arrival expected to be no later than the following Tuesday (22/08).

I've rehosted some of the better photos in this album from the rather difficult-to-link MoD image bank: http://imgur.com/a/NfxxH