Wärtsilä Wins UK Aircraft Carrier Contract

Wärtsilä will supply main diesel generating sets and their auxiliary and support systems for the Royal Navy's Future Aircraft Carriers. (Photo: Thales)

Wärtsilä has been awarded the contract for approx EUR 30 million for the manufacture and supply of the main diesel generating sets and their auxiliary and support systems for the Royal Navy's Future Aircraft Carriers (CVF) by Thales Naval Division on behalf of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance. The contract award was marked by a ceremony held on HMS Victory in Portsmouth Naval Base, UK, on 30 November 2007.

The main diesel generating sets will form part of the Integrated Electric Propulsion (IEP) system. The selected prime movers of the generating sets are two 12-cylinder and two 16-cylinder Wärtsilä 38 engines for each ship and will supply 40 MW of the total installed power of over 100 MW, the remainder coming from two gas turbine alternators. They will be the largest diesel engines ever supplied to the Royal Navy. The first ship set of diesel generators will be delivered in 2009, with the equipment for the second ship following in 2011.

The CVF carriers, HMS "Queen Elizabeth" and HMS "Prince of Wales", will have a displacement of around 65,000 tonnes and length of 284 metres. They will be the largest and most powerful warships ever built in the United Kingdom. The hulls are being planned for a 50-year service life and the ships will be built in modules by selected naval shipbuilding yards around the UK with final assembly in Rosyth. Each ship will have a complement of typically 1450 including aircrew, and will support around 40 aircrafts including the Joint Strike Fighter and Airborne Early Warning aircraft.