1 00:00:00,340 --> 00:00:06,660 The USS Gerald R Ford and the HMS Queen Elizabeth are the latest and most modern aircraft carriers 2 00:00:06,660 --> 00:00:13,710 in the world. Both use the latest technology to support planes like the F-35 but why has 3 00:00:13,710 --> 00:00:19,219 the British carrier not followed in the footsteps of the American carriers and used nuclear 4 00:00:19,219 --> 00:00:25,899 to power it’s systems and what are the pro’s and cons of being nuclear or non-nuclear in 5 00:00:25,899 --> 00:00:39,399 a modern navy. 6 00:00:39,399 --> 00:00:44,769 Now this video is sponsored by NordVPN and just like the latest aircraft carriers, it 7 00:00:44,770 --> 00:00:49,489 is designed to help protect you whilst your out surfing the high seas of the internet 8 00:00:49,488 --> 00:00:53,979 which at times can make the wild west look like a calm and peaceful place. 9 00:00:53,979 --> 00:00:59,140 One of the problems I have had with other VPN’s is that once your logged in, if their 10 00:00:59,140 --> 00:01:05,069 system is slow then your whole connection is slowed down, however when I tried NordVPN 11 00:01:05,069 --> 00:01:11,349 I found that there was hardly any noticeable drop in speed plus you can have upto 6 devices 12 00:01:11,349 --> 00:01:16,449 run thru one account which is really useful in our house, because when the kids come home 13 00:01:16,450 --> 00:01:21,790 from school we can have 3 computers and 2 ipads and an iPhone all being used at the 14 00:01:21,790 --> 00:01:27,969 same time and that last thing I need is a slow connection and everyone moaning and complaining 15 00:01:27,968 --> 00:01:31,848 about it. 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So the last generation of invincible class light carriers was coming 29 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:53,798 in at 22,000 tonnes, Compared to the US’s Nimitz class which tip the scales at 100,000 30 00:02:53,799 --> 00:02:56,140 tonnes. The British carriers were built primarily 31 00:02:56,139 --> 00:03:01,748 for anti-submarine warfare in the cold war North Atlantic and not for projecting naval 32 00:03:01,748 --> 00:03:07,789 power around the world like the US ones. However, after the devastating Kosovo war 33 00:03:07,789 --> 00:03:13,500 of the late 1990s, Europe was seen to have done too little too late to intervene. So 34 00:03:13,500 --> 00:03:18,780 a European Union Rapid Reaction Force was proposed that would be able to act on a global 35 00:03:18,780 --> 00:03:25,110 level and independently of NATO and the US. As part of this 3 new large aircraft carriers 36 00:03:25,110 --> 00:03:30,519 would be built which would share a common design, two by Britain and one by France with 37 00:03:30,519 --> 00:03:34,050 other European nations making up the support group. 38 00:03:34,050 --> 00:03:39,671 However things didn’t quite go to plan, the French cancelled their carrier in 2013 39 00:03:39,670 --> 00:03:44,358 due to budget restraints and because they thought that the non-nuclear propulsion was 40 00:03:44,359 --> 00:03:51,050 a step backward for French technology. So the British continued alone with the HMS 41 00:03:51,050 --> 00:03:57,370 Queen Elizabeth and the HMS Prince of Wales as it was now believed that bigger was better 42 00:03:57,370 --> 00:04:04,580 and small carriers just couldn’t provide air superiority quickly, one of a number of 43 00:04:04,580 --> 00:04:10,140 lessons learned from the Falklands war. These are collectively called the Queen Elizabeth 44 00:04:10,139 --> 00:04:17,269 Class carriers or QEC and named after a first world war super-dreadnought battleship and 45 00:04:17,269 --> 00:04:22,310 not the current Queen of England just in case you were wondering. 46 00:04:22,310 --> 00:04:28,081 Even though the QEC carriers are a bit smaller, they are still the second-largest non-US Navy 47 00:04:28,081 --> 00:04:36,229 warships in the world after the WW2 Yamato-class Japanese battleships, displacing 65-70,000 48 00:04:36,228 --> 00:04:41,829 tonnes depending on the final build. They were also to be of an adaptable design that 49 00:04:41,829 --> 00:04:48,120 could use either CATOBAR ~ Catapult Assisted Take-Off, Barrier Arrested Recovery or Ski 50 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:53,519 jumps for Short Take Off and Vertical Landing aircraft, in particular, the F-35B Lightning 51 00:04:53,519 --> 00:04:58,620 II joint strike fighter. When the British carriers were on the drawing 52 00:04:58,620 --> 00:05:04,418 board nuclear power was looked at as an option. With the right design, it can provide enough 53 00:05:04,418 --> 00:05:10,049 power to run the ship without refuelling for up 25 years. 54 00:05:10,050 --> 00:05:16,639 Land-based reactors usually produce about 1600MW, marine reactors are a few hundred 55 00:05:16,639 --> 00:05:21,840 MW. These reactors have to be very small yet powerful for their size to fit in the limited 56 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:25,859 space of a ship, even one the size of an aircraft carrier 57 00:05:25,860 --> 00:05:31,129 This small size means more expensive materials have to be used that are more resistant to 58 00:05:31,129 --> 00:05:36,769 radiation and that the neutron interaction with fissionable material before it escapes 59 00:05:36,769 --> 00:05:43,709 into the shielding is much less. So highly enriched weapons-grade uranium is often used, 60 00:05:43,709 --> 00:05:49,788 this increases the power density and extends the reactor lifetime but is much more expensive 61 00:05:49,788 --> 00:05:55,449 and a greater security risk. You also can't rely on gravity to drop the 62 00:05:55,449 --> 00:06:02,060 control rods into the reactor core to shut it down like land-based one because the pitching 63 00:06:02,060 --> 00:06:09,329 and rolling motion of the ship in the sea, so mechanical control systems must work flawlessly. 64 00:06:09,329 --> 00:06:14,889 This and extra things like the desalination of seawater to make fresh water for the cooling 65 00:06:14,889 --> 00:06:20,579 system, all add’s to the cost and makes it very expensive to build a nuclear-powered 66 00:06:20,579 --> 00:06:24,139 ship. But in recent years there has been a move 67 00:06:24,139 --> 00:06:29,418 against nuclear ships with some countries not allowing nuclear-armed or powered ships 68 00:06:29,418 --> 00:06:34,479 in their territorial waters and as these are the flagships of the country they represent 69 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:40,569 they are carrying both ecological and political baggage. 70 00:06:40,569 --> 00:06:48,080 The size of the QEC carriers also limits where they can dock and maintenance can be carried 71 00:06:48,079 --> 00:06:55,639 out only at nuclear-certified ports. The UK has only two certified X Berths at Devonport 72 00:06:55,639 --> 00:07:00,680 and Faslane. Maintenance requires specialist nuclear technicians 73 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:06,500 and then there is the decommissioning at the end of their working lives. The US has a specialist 74 00:07:06,500 --> 00:07:13,250 area at Puget sound for the disposal of their nuclear assets and large areas in remote locations 75 00:07:13,250 --> 00:07:20,129 where the remains of the reactors can be buried. The UK has still to complete the decommissioning 76 00:07:20,129 --> 00:07:26,060 of a single nuclear submarine. Although Britain could build nuclear carriers, 77 00:07:26,060 --> 00:07:32,139 all its experience is in submarines and not surface ships. The only shipyard set up for 78 00:07:32,139 --> 00:07:38,219 assembly of nuclear-powered ships is Rosyth which is booked up with decommissioning old 79 00:07:38,220 --> 00:07:43,810 nuclear subs and building new ones. It would also need to bring in a substantial number 80 00:07:43,810 --> 00:07:49,560 of nuclear specialists from the US or France at considerable expense as we don’t have 81 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:54,408 enough in the UK. All this contrasts with the US, where the 82 00:07:54,408 --> 00:08:00,259 US Navy is one of the biggest and oldest nuclear operators in the world. It has a huge amount 83 00:08:00,259 --> 00:08:04,400 of experience that dates back to the end Manhattan project in the 1940’s. 84 00:08:04,399 --> 00:08:12,258 It has developed 27 different reactor designs that have been used in 219 nuclear-powered 85 00:08:12,259 --> 00:08:20,658 vessels and brought over 526 reactor cores into operation. It currently operates 81 nuclear-powered 86 00:08:20,658 --> 00:08:29,709 vessels, 11 aircraft carriers and 70 submarines. It’s clocked up over 6200 reactor years 87 00:08:29,709 --> 00:08:36,669 and the nuclear-powered vessels have travelled over 240 million Km without a single reactor 88 00:08:36,669 --> 00:08:41,620 accident and it has a safety record that is second to none. 89 00:08:41,620 --> 00:08:46,590 One of the major differences between the new US Ford-class carriers and the previous generation 90 00:08:46,590 --> 00:08:52,629 Nimitz class was the introduction of more powerful A1B reactors built by Bectel which 91 00:08:52,629 --> 00:08:58,519 are both smaller and simpler to operate, yet generate at least 25% more power than the 92 00:08:58,519 --> 00:09:04,840 A1W Westinghouse built reactors in the Nimitz. The Nimitz class carriers have been in service 93 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:11,790 since 1975 and in that time a lot of new technology has been developed such as the EMALS Electromagnetic 94 00:09:11,789 --> 00:09:18,299 Aircraft Launch System as well as many more modern systems requiring an electrical supply. 95 00:09:18,299 --> 00:09:24,399 There are also the near-future weapons and defence systems like rail guns, directed energy 96 00:09:24,399 --> 00:09:30,179 weapons and dynamic armour in the pipeline all of which will require large electrical 97 00:09:30,179 --> 00:09:34,669 supplies, something that the Nimitz class had reached the limits of. 98 00:09:34,669 --> 00:09:39,240 The Ford Class carriers were designed to have at least double the electrical generating 99 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:44,960 capacity of anything they need now to allow for future developments. 100 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:49,870 The US carriers use steam-power not only to power the turbines for the propellers but 101 00:09:49,870 --> 00:09:55,679 also electrical generators and steam catapults to launch the planes, steam being something 102 00:09:55,679 --> 00:10:01,969 which the nuclear reactors produce a lot of. But all the steam plumbing creates a lot of 103 00:10:01,970 --> 00:10:07,340 complexity, maintenance, weight, and more manpower to operate and also determines where 104 00:10:07,340 --> 00:10:11,910 the reactors are placed. Whilst steam catapults have proved to be very 105 00:10:11,909 --> 00:10:17,769 reliable in the past they have no form of feedback control and as such can transmit 106 00:10:17,769 --> 00:10:23,600 very large tow forces that can stress the airframes of the planes especially lighter 107 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:28,800 ones which means more maintenance, cost and aircraft downtime. 108 00:10:28,799 --> 00:10:34,490 So for the Ford Class carriers, the EMALS Launch System was developed. This uses an 109 00:10:34,490 --> 00:10:40,210 electric linear motor that uses feedback to accelerate the plane smoothly depending on 110 00:10:40,210 --> 00:10:46,580 its weight. Its also lighter and less complex to fit than the old steam ones and with a 111 00:10:46,580 --> 00:10:52,320 quicker recharge time should be able to launch more sorties in the same time. 112 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:56,750 Something which is often talked about it is the unlimited range of nuclear-powered ships. 113 00:10:56,750 --> 00:11:01,889 Well, yes they do have an unlimited range but unlike a nuclear submarine which travels 114 00:11:01,889 --> 00:11:09,549 alone, a carrier is always accompanied by the carrier strike group of supporting warships 115 00:11:09,549 --> 00:11:14,490 which are often non-nuclear. The planes themselves also require aviation 116 00:11:14,490 --> 00:11:19,629 fuel has to be replenished by supply ships along with food, water, and ammunition if 117 00:11:19,629 --> 00:11:24,929 extended missions are ongoing. The Royal Navy has never operated nuclear 118 00:11:24,929 --> 00:11:31,669 carriers, so it has always had oilers or fuel replenishment tankers to resupply it’s aircraft 119 00:11:31,669 --> 00:11:35,860 carriers as part of their operation. This meant there was much less of an incentive 120 00:11:35,860 --> 00:11:41,690 to go nuclear with the new carrier. The cost of building and maintaining nuclear 121 00:11:41,690 --> 00:11:48,630 is higher than running conventional oil powered carriers, even with rising fuel costs factored 122 00:11:48,629 --> 00:11:55,240 in. It will take about 15 years before the cost of fuel catches up extra cost of building 123 00:11:55,240 --> 00:12:00,820 a nuclear version and that’s without the periodic nuclear refuelling costs and the 124 00:12:00,820 --> 00:12:06,160 very expensive and problematic decommissioning at the end of their service life. 125 00:12:06,159 --> 00:12:11,319 Old conventional Aircraft carriers are often sold on to foreign powers so some of that 126 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:17,620 money can be recouped, nuclear ships, on the other hand, can not be sold on and become 127 00:12:17,620 --> 00:12:21,799 a liability. About every 25 years or so the nuclear reactors 128 00:12:21,799 --> 00:12:26,669 on a Nimitz class carrier have to be refuelled which can take it out of service for several 129 00:12:26,669 --> 00:12:32,479 years and is usually combined with a major refit and cost’s billions to complete. 130 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:37,610 The Royal Navy has only a small number of nuclear technicians for its submarine fleet 131 00:12:37,610 --> 00:12:43,090 and would struggle to find new ones to look after any new nuclear carriers. 132 00:12:43,090 --> 00:12:48,500 So if nuclear was out what could be used in its place. The solution they opted for was 133 00:12:48,500 --> 00:12:56,620 Integrated electric propulsion or IEP with electric motors to drive the propellers, something 134 00:12:56,620 --> 00:13:02,379 which is well proven in the commercial shipping sector but still a novel feature in military 135 00:13:02,379 --> 00:13:10,320 ships, the new Zumwalt class destroyers in the US navy also uses this type of IEP propulsion. 136 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:18,170 Using a combination of two Rolls-Royce Marine Trent MT30 36MW gas turbines, basically, a 137 00:13:18,169 --> 00:13:25,629 Rolls Royce Trent 800 jet engine mated to a generator and four 11MW Wärtsilä diesel 138 00:13:25,629 --> 00:13:32,889 generators, this combined setup can supply up to 116MW of electrical power. 139 00:13:32,889 --> 00:13:39,840 The QEC carriers have twin propellers which are each driven by two 20MW General Electric 140 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:43,860 induction motors. The diesel generators provide the baseload 141 00:13:43,860 --> 00:13:48,860 supply for normal cruising and when extra speed or power is required the gas turbines 142 00:13:48,860 --> 00:13:53,820 are used as well. As the entire system is electrical, the generators 143 00:13:53,820 --> 00:13:59,330 can be anywhere on the ship that is suitable, freeing up space for other uses like aircraft 144 00:13:59,330 --> 00:14:03,570 hanger storage. Both the QEC carriers were designed for the 145 00:14:03,570 --> 00:14:09,430 EMALS launch system even though it wasn’t fitted in the end, they still enough power 146 00:14:09,429 --> 00:14:14,859 generation to allow it to be retro fitted at some point in the future if required. 147 00:14:14,860 --> 00:14:19,330 Lessons learned from the Falklands War showed that the STOVL Short Take-Off and Vertical 148 00:14:19,330 --> 00:14:26,170 Landing Sea Harriers on a light carrier like HMS Invincible could carry out more sorties 149 00:14:26,169 --> 00:14:32,360 than conventional aircraft on a larger catapult powered carrier like the Ark Royal as it would 150 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:37,580 have been severely limited due to the bad weather of the South Atlantic if it had been 151 00:14:37,580 --> 00:14:43,800 in service as it was scrapped two years earlier. Instead of using the conventional takeoff 152 00:14:43,799 --> 00:14:50,250 F-35C that the US Navy opted for and which are suited to the larger Ford Class with the 153 00:14:50,250 --> 00:14:57,730 EMALS launcher, the MOD opted for the F-35B STOVL version which meant the need for catapult 154 00:14:57,730 --> 00:15:03,639 and arresting gear was removed and echoed the Falklands experience but now with a full-sized 155 00:15:03,639 --> 00:15:08,870 carriers, each with many more aircraft. A ski jump at the end of the runway requires 156 00:15:08,870 --> 00:15:13,560 nothing in the way of power or complexity compared to a catapult but achieves the same 157 00:15:13,559 --> 00:15:19,109 result with STOVL aircraft. So, in the end, the Royal Navy ended up with 158 00:15:19,110 --> 00:15:24,669 two of the most modern carriers in the world but without going down the nuclear route, 159 00:15:24,669 --> 00:15:31,029 yes it was a cost-cutting measure but then the US defense budget is about $600M to the 160 00:15:31,029 --> 00:15:39,759 UK’s $50M and you could have two QEC carriers for the price of one Ford-class carrier with 161 00:15:39,759 --> 00:15:45,220 a substantial amount of change and without all the nuclear baggage and long term costs 162 00:15:45,220 --> 00:15:52,330 that it entails and do a very similar job. What do you think of the latest carriers from 163 00:15:52,330 --> 00:15:57,800 the UK and the US, let me know in the comments, so thanks for watching and please don’t 164 00:15:57,799 --> 00:15:59,449 forget to subscribe, thumb up and share.