February 2012

Drilling begins in Portsmouth – Not for Oil but Carriers! – work started in earnest for getting Portsmouth ready for the new carrier age with the use of a specialist drilling rig (the 'Deep River'),  starting six weeks of drilling and sampling the seabed.     The tests will pave the way for major dredging work due in two years time and will allow these 65,000 tonne (displacement) vessels to safely and easily enter the harbour.    The new ships are larger by 10,000 tonnes than the EAGLE and the former ARK ROYAL, both decommissioned in the 1970.

The existing channel needs to be widened and deepened and the berths at the Naval Base will need to be excavated and a suitable turning circle provided in the harbour  north - the draught of the new carriers will be 36 feet).     The QUEEN ELIZABETH is due to be launched in 2014 and thus will arrive in Portsmouth two years later.      Next year work will begin to replace telephone cables between Southsea and the Isle of Wight, will be followed in 2014-15 by the major dredging work, with around three-and-a-half million tonnes of seabed to be moved.   The Deep River, which will be brightly lit and will be operating 24 hours a day, will drill 27 bore holes to a depth of 104 feet along various parts of the proposed route including five holes in the harbour entrance which will cause some minor delays.