I am glad that I am of the age to have seen ships constructed the old fashioned way. Not all that long ago, shipyards still built ships from the bottom up. The shipyard first fabricated the double bottom sub-assemblies and then started adding framing blocks and so forth. When the hull was fabricated, assemblies welded and painted, they launched the ship down the ways into the water with a satisfying splash, using technology that had been first developed by the ancient Egyptians.
A recent article reminded me of how much things have changed. Ships are now built in large sub-assemblies, welded into blocks, and then the blocks are welded together in drydock. In the case of the new British aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, the construction blocks will be fabricated at seven different shipyards. Recently the “lower block three” of HMS Queen Elizabeth, 8,000 tonnes of steel, piping, cable and other outfitting was towed from BAE Systems shipyard on the Clyde in Govan in Glasgow, on its way Rosyth on the Forth, 600 miles away, for final block integration and assembly.
The new British carriers will each cost a budget-busting £2.6bn (US$4.3 billion.) That is still less than half the cost of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the new US carrier under construction, which is estimated to cost US$ 9 billion or US$14 billion if research and development costs are included.
Assembly to Begin on Britain’s Biggest Warship
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The most interesting question about the recently revealed cheating scandal on personnel training exams on the nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, 
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Last week, a bright orange jelly or “goo” floated up on the beaches of Kivalina, a remote Alaskan village of just over 400 residents. Now scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have determined that the goo is not man-made but rather millions of microscopic invertebrate eggs, filled with fatty droplets. Experts are guessing that they are from some sort of crustacean, but so far have been unable to identify which species of invertebrate laid all the eggs or whether the mass of eggs will prove harmful to the village water supply or impact local fishing.
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In May, we posted about what appears to be the deck of an aircraft carrier built onto the top of a government building in China (
The Royal Navy has appointed Lt Cdr Sarah West the command of