HMS Queen Elizabeth - starts construction in Portsmouth

Construction of the new Royal Navy aircraft carrier at Portsmouth. The work is in progress at the stern of HMS Queen Elizabeth, one of two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy's 60,000 tons - HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales - The shipyard workers in Portsmouth are starting the second major phase of construction - construction of the massive section of the stern of HMS Queen Elizabeth .

The ships were saved from cuts in defense under the coalition government, but the HMS Prince of Wales will not enter service. It will be built, but not placed into service, being placed in reserve, as the government's strategic defense. October is scheduled to review the cuts of $ 4.7 billion in four years. The new aircraft carriers will replace the HMS Invincible , HMS Illustrious and HMS Ark Royal . HMS Invincible , deactivated in 2005, was offered for sale on an Internet auction site of the Government, while HMS Ark Royal - flagship of the Navy - will be off this month and HMS Illustrious in 2014. HMS Ark Royal was withdrawn ahead of schedule by cutting defense, along with Harrier jets from RAF - which means no aircraft will be able to fly from British aircraft carrier until 2019, when the HMS Queen Elizabeth will come into service.

Ken Smith a welder, said: "Obviously it's a prestigious job, the more work that the Navy has ever had, so it is very important. "So I hope we continue with some frigates after that." Head of the project, Paul Bowsher said he was "immensely proud to be involved in a complicated engineering project." "But it's very, very important for Portsmouth, which is important for BAE Systems and certainly for the construction of an aircraft carrier for the Navy for the future." Parts of the vessels are being built in yards throughout the UK. The first sections, performed in Portsmouth, will be delivered to Rosyth in April 2012.

Last week, the Royal United Services Institute, said the Ministry of Defence (MoD) would have to make additional savings of $ 1 billion-$ 2 billion per year if it were to avoid overspending in 2015. Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey said the review had significantly reduced the underfunding, but more work was needed. In November, the United Kingdom and France signed a new treaty in which the defense agreed to share aircraft, keeping at least one ship at sea between the two countries at once. Each will be able to use another aircraft carrier in some way, certainly, for training and possibly for operations.