UK Aircraft Carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth

choi

Robert Wall, UK Frets Over Cost of New Carriers. Wall Street Journal, July 3, 2014.
online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB20001424052702304359004580004841743744992
(Queen Elizabeth II is scheduled on Friday [July 4] to christen the first of two new aircraft carriers: HMS Queen Elizabeth * * * in Rosyth, outside Edinburgh, where the carrier was assembled”)

Quote:

’Operating a single carrier really only gives you regional power,’ said Peter Roberts, a senior research fellow for maritime studies at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank. That is largely because, without a backup, a carrier will be limited to six-month deployments. ’It is a second carrier availability that gives you that truly global characteristic of the navy,’ Mr Roberts said.

“The sea has been a theater of war Britain dominated for some 400 years, from 1588 with the defeat of the Spanish Armada under the first Queen Elizabeth, through to World War I.

Note:
(a) In print but not online is
(i) a photo whose legend reads, “The HMS Queen Elizabeth in dry dock last month. The aircraft carrier is one of the two that Britain is building.
(ii) A graphic of aircraft carriers viewed from above and showing deck designs.

“Anchor Aweigh
A look at some of the largest aircraft carriers

CARRIER ……………….USS Gerald R Ford ……….Ex-Varyag …………Kuznetsov ……….Queen Elizabeth …...Charles de Gaulle
NATION …………………………...US …………………………...CHINA …………….RUSSIA …………….UK………………………………..FRANCE
AIRCRAFT CAPACITY …….75+ ………………………………52 ………………….52 …………………...36+ ………………………………..35-40
CREW …………………………….4,500 ………………………….2,500 ……………..2,500 ………………..1,600 ……………………………...1,950

Sources: US Navy; Royal Navy; Global Security     The Wall Street Journal”

(b) That “Ex-Varyag” and Kuznetsov share the same design is not surprising, both (and they only) being in Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuznetsov-class_aircraft_carrier
(c) “The Queen Elizabeth and the sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, have a combined cost of £6.2 billion ($10.6 billion). The two, 65,000-ton vessels were conceived back in 1999, long before Europe's economic woes.”

Again both carriers (and they only) belong in Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth-class_aircraft_carrier

(d) “Britain retired the last of its Harrier jump jets in 2010, amid the financial crisis. It could make an initial purchase of about 14 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35B Joint Strike Fighters, which can also takeoff and land vertically, this month. That would represent less than half of the carrier's full complement of 36. A planned redesign to accommodate jets with longer ranges and more ordnance was abandoned because of costs.”
(i) complement (n; Middle English, from Latin complementum, from complēreto fill up, complete, from com- + plēre to fill):
”the quantity, number, or assortment required to make a thing complete <the usual complement of eyes and ears — Francis Parkman>; especially :  the whole force or personnel of a ship”
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/complement
(ii) James Dunnigan, Britain Abandons The Catapult Again. Strategy Page, Oct 16, 2013
www.strategypage.com/dls/article ... gain-10-16-2013.asp
(forgoing F-35C and catapult: “reverted to the original F-35B/ski jump model”)

Quote:

“While the Harriers could land and take off like a helicopter, they often took off (via a "ski jump" flight deck) so they could carry more weight (especially bombs) into action.

“The current steam catapult was designed by a British naval officer in the 1950s and were essential for launching the heavier jet aircraft. The British eventually abandoned the large carriers, and steam catapults, because of cost.


(e) “Since the US began flying planes from ships in 1910, aircraft carriers have been an essential symbol of military might. Britain has long been a leader in their development. It pioneered the ski-jump-shaped bow that allows jets to take off with a shorter deck and without the catapults the US uses. Today, the US operates by far the largest carrier fleet: 10, all of them nuclear-powered. Every other carrier-equipped navy currently operates just one, including France and Russia. Britain still operates the carrier that once hosted the Harrier jets, but now it flies just helicopters.”
(i) Eugene Burton Ely
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Burton_Ely
(Nov 14, 1910)

But he--ship to beach and months later, beach to ship--never took off AND landed on the same ship.
(ii) UK pioneered the ski jump.

Invincible-class aircraft carrier
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invincible-class_aircraft_carrier
(HMS Invincible (1980-2005), HMS Illustrious (1982-confirmed to be decommissioned later this year) and HMS Ark Royal (1985-2011))

Quote: “In order to launch a heavily-laden Harrier more efficiently by STOVL (short take-off vertical landing) from the comparatively short - 170-metre (560 ft) - flight deck, a 'ski-jump' was developed.

(f)
(i) Rosyth
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosyth
(ii) Fife
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fife

, not to be confused with
(A) fife (instrument)  橫笛
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fife_(instrument)
(B) flute  長笛
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flute
(flutes are the earliest known musical instruments)
(iii) T Manson, Fife Place Names Meanings and Pronunciations. The Fife Post
www.thefifepost.com/?page_id=4079
("FIFE : Possibly ‘Path’ (fiamh) * * * ROSYTH : ‘cape of arrows’ ; ros (Gaelic) cape, promontory; saighead (Gaelic) arrow")