Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 2:15:24-2:16:16

Queen Elizabeth construction was modular; delay created the exceptional cost

Building carrier sections at several yards matched established British practice, while stretching the schedule meant paying roughly three and a half ships for two delivered.

Aircraft CarriersBritish ShipbuildingIndustrial BaseModular ConstructionNaval ProcurementQueen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carriers
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Question

How difficult was the modular construction of the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers?

Short answer

The modular work was normal for Britain; the expensive mistake was delaying construction so much that two ships cost roughly as much as three and a half.

Notes

The distributed blocks were not an improvised response to an impossible ship. Britain had long used modular methods to spread work among yards and maximize national capacity. The unusually painful part was slowing the program to preserve industrial employment and keep facilities open. The resulting expense approached the cost of three and a half carriers, making it more sensible to build a third ship and place it in reserve.