The Queen Elizabeth Class project is probably at
the peak of effort, with around 10,000 people involved in building the
2 leviathans, or providing equipment and systems to be installed on
them.
While almost all the media attention is focused on the future flagship,
there’s also an all-out effort across the land to build her
younger sister, the Prince of Wales, which is around 2 years behind
Queen Elizabeth.
Sections of 3-quarters of the Prince of Wales’s hull are under
construction in Portsmouth, Govan, Merseyside and Tyneside.
The 65,000-tonne Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers will be based
in Portsmouth and will be the centrepiece of the UK’s military
capability.
HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to begin sea trials in 2017 and flight
trials from her deck using Lightning II fast jets in 2018.