4 July. Der Tag. HMS
Queen Elizabeth is enormous.
Officially named today by Her Majesty the Queen after her illustrious
sixteenth century forebear she is the largest warship ever built for the Royal
Navy. She sits in her Rosyth dock
against the backdrop of the massive Forth Railway Bridge itself a signature British
engineering marvel from a previous age.
Displacing 65,000 tons the ‘QE’ is the first of Britain’s 2 new super
aircraft carriers. Her flight deck is
the size of 60 Wimbledon tennis courts or 3 World Cup pitches. When commissioned in 2017 she will carry up
to 50 aircraft in a hangar that is the size of 60 Olympic-size swimming
pools. She is twice the width and some
90 metres longer than her predecessor HMS
Illustrious which sits alongside her.
HMS
Queen Elizabeth is also far more than a ship. She is a potent symbol of British power,
unity, alliance and partnership that will fly the White Ensign the most famous flag of the most famous navy in the
world. Indeed, a navy that in many ways
made the modern world. In tandem with
her sister-ship HMS Prince of Wales she
will act as a hub for a new type of agile and mobile global reach military
power projection that will assure and ensure maritime and land security across
the globe.
HMS
Queen Elizabeth will exert influence and effect across
three strategic spaces – the peace-space, the security-space, and the battle-space. Able to reach 80% of the world’s population
she will act in crises as diverse as disaster relief and help prevent and deter
full-blown war which cannot be ruled out in the hyper-competitive twenty-first
century.
HMS
Queen Elizabeth is a symbol of national unity. She was built in sections at 6 shipyards
across the United Kingdom. Indeed, she
is perhaps the most innovative ship ever built with each section bought to
Rosyth to be welded together. As some in
Scotland contemplate secession she is a potent symbol of what this old great
gathering of peoples can still achieve in the world together.
HMS
Queen Elizabeth is a symbol of alliance. She is testament to Britain’s determination
to inject real power into both NATO and the EU.
As Americans complain about burden-sharing or the lack of it here is a
European ally that in spite of many challenges is willing to invest in the
highest-end of high-end military capabilities.
Alongside the new Type 45 destroyers and Astute-class nuclear attack
submarines joining or soon to join the Royal Navy this great ship will put
Britain at the heart of NATO and EU task groups. Indeed, her very existence will underpin all
the navies across both the Alliance and Union.
HMS
Queen Elizabeth is a symbol of partnership. Britain made an historic mistake in the early
1970s by focusing exclusively on Europe and what became the EU. Whether Britain
stays or leaves the EU this ship will help re-invigorate Britain’s traditional
partnerships with countries like Australia, India and Japan (see history). She will also help reinforce key partnerships
with close, powerful friends such as France and Germany. Critically, she will help keep America strong
where America needs to be strong as Washington faces a growing gap between what
it needs to be able to do and what it can afford to do. To that end HMS Queen Elizabeth will be a vital
partner of both the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps.
My belief in HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales has been absolute
from the day they were
conceived. This is not simply because of
the power projection or fighting power the two ships will afford London or the
Carrier-enabled Power Projection in the strategy-documents, or indeed because I
favour the Royal Navy over the British Army or Royal Air Force. I do not.
As I write in my new book Little
Britain (www.amazon.com) my belief in
these ships is because of what they say about Britain and its future as a major
power. This has nothing to do with Britannia
ruling the waves but rather the willingness of a twenty-first European state to
confront political realism with imagination and determination built on the
recognition that credible military capability still underpins all power and
influence.
HMS
Queen Elizabeth is a national strategic asset. She is an entirely appropriate statement of
strategic ambition for one of the world’s leading political, economic and
military powers and will serve Britain and its allies and partners out to 2060
and beyond. As such she will help reinvigorate
the British strategic brand critical to keeping the West strong – the West that
is today an idea rather than a place.
HMS
Queen Elizabeth is a symbol of my country; a ship and a country
of which I am justly proud. HMS Queen Elizabeth is a big-picture
ship of a big-picture country in a big-picture world.
Julian Lindley-French
