Probably arguing over the cost of the coffee machine. Have not heard any announcements but no doubt negotiations are happening.

Re the deck coating some of us wondered the same thing a couple of days ago. And also Enigmatically one of or members dropped a clue to say it was being done in places. Must be casting a few pennies to hire all those tents to cover the QE deck.

The wardroom carpet to be revealed?

I didn't bother to put what I believe about Corbyn. Yes the moon is made of cheese and the world is flat. I was agreeing with the statement made by his henchwoman regarding the need for more special forces, spooks and cyber capabilities.

Thanks for posting CJ great pictures as always. I can see that the paintwork hasn't been retouched yet. Their appears to be more tents on deck I assume perhaps that the deck coatings are being applied.

I actually agreed with what she said at the end about special forces, more spooks, and cyber. The rest was just the usual bullshit.

Nice to see the brake props turning. SKB if you rotate two huge chunks of metal you will get a disturbance of the water around them and you have to admit it the propellers are pretty big. So although the water is being churned up a bit they are not pushing the ship forwards.

Lets imagine the out vote wins the day, will smoke and mirrors Cameron and crew honour what the public want. I voted in the last referendum to join the EU thinking it was a trade agreement in the form of the common market, very shortly afterwards we started to get EU rules for weights and measures, ...

I may be looking at the figures wrong but in the Navy the officer to rating ratio is 1:3 which seems quite high.

The UK financial centre is a global concern of which the eu is a very small part. The eu would like the financial sector in places like Frankfurt and Paris to grow but they will never be as successful as London. Yes some companies may move their HQ but as HSBC have found out the UK is a good place t...

Don't understand what the above story has to do with any referendum.

It seems the UK has become the place for testing, only a few days ago Lockheed announced more F35 testing at Brough with BAE.

That was a good picture of QE I notice that the paintwork looks good in that shot.

I heard that there will be a F35 container size simulator aboard the ship. I don't know about the ship but there was some land trials carried out on the command and control system before the QE was built.

Don't forget the manufacturer will do sea trials and various tests before handing over to the Royal Navy.

Just watched the band school it was very good. At the end it said the girl left the Band Service. Seems a shame after getting so far. Maybe the basic Commando Training had something to do with it she was in her late twenties.

Well the Aquitaine is a general purpose frigate and obviously doesn't require the super big mast of the Air Defence ships, which need a tall mast to see further for low flying missiles.

Thanks again strange that she would be behind. Especially when we have seen the rapid build progress on the POW. My guess is that a lot of the internal electronics and equipment fit is being installed, tested calibrated etc and yes it does take time. Bearing in mind that the planes that will fly off...

Hopefully they will cover until the UK gets its planes

Thanks for the update CJ how is the paintwork looking lately last I saw it was peeling a bit.

The US Navy is looking to base P8 out of Iceland to cover the Greenland to UK gap over the next few years.
http://www.janes.com/article/57898/nato ... submarines

I would say that the QE will be about 4o years old before there's a replacement for the F35. They are designed with at least 8000 hrs airframe life. Bearing in mind a lot of flying will take place using simulators they probably will only fly a few hours a week in peacetime.

Government spending on Successor Submarine Design

http://www.defensenews.com/story/defens ... /80047602/

Yes I can imagine the headline in the Daily Torygraph, Sea Dave lands on HMS Queen Elizabeth. Lord West resigns.

Well if the First Sea Lord stands up in Parliament and calls them Daves we will know where he gets his information.