80,000 tonnes Corus steel set for Navy ships

THE sheer scale of two Royal Navy aircraft carriers to be built with Scunthorpe steel is becoming clear.

Steelworkers at Corus, off Brigg Road, will make about 80,000 tonnes of steel for the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

The ships are set to enter service by about 2018.

Each of the 65,000-tonne carriers will have nine decks and will be almost 60 metres tall.

With two Rolls Royce MT30 gas turbines and four diesel generator sets producing 109MW, each ship could keep the lights on in Scunthorpe twice over.

The ships were delayed for up to two years by defence secretary John Hutton in December, and there are constant budgetary concerns on the £3.9-billion scheme.

But naval expert Dr Lee Willett, head of the maritime studies programme at the Royal United Services Institute said the carriers were important to project Britain's power abroad.

"All the major navies in the world are now building them," Dr Willett said.

"We're an island nation and we have global interests, so we need these four acres of moveable sovereign airfield that we can deploy wherever we want, whenever we need them.

"Carriers have proved their value in humanitarian and relief operations as well as in combat roles, and they remain a very flexible political and military asset."

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