WITH the largest section of the HMS Prince of Wales set to depart for Rosyth for assembly this Sunday, ANN FOTHERINGHAM and DAVID CAMPBELL spoke to some of the people involved in building and designing Britain’s biggest ever warship, ahead of its departure.

WHEN it comes to shipbuilding, the Kerr’s like to keep it in the family.

Apprentice Engineering Technician Conor Kerr, represents the third generation of his family to be a part of the Clydeside shipbuilding industry

He said: “My great grandfather worked at John Brown’s and my granddad worked at Babcock’s so there is a long tradition of shipbuilding in my family.

“I used to walk past the yards when I lived in Govan and always looked in and thought – that’s what I want to do. And being from Clydebank, a real shipbuilding town, it made sense”

Conor is moving into the 4th year of his design apprenticeship with BAE, through which he has gained an HNC through day release at Anniesland College and an HND through various placements within the firm.

“I’m doing a design apprenticeship as opposed to the more traditional craft apprenticeship. I have had a chance to be a part of designing some of the components on the ship, like the lithium battery compartments.”

“I work in the drawing room using CAD programmes where I specialise in layouts. I help develop and design different aspects of the ships for the navy. I will be moving onto work on the type 26 when this project has finished. “

Getting on board the HMS Queen Elizabeth and seeing the enormity of it has been one of 23-year-old Conor’s highlights throughout the process.

He explains: “I’m now part of the ‘change request’ team which means we get to go onto the ship and liaise with the different trades about certain changes to the ship that might need to be made. But being onboard you get a feeling for just how big it actually is.

And seeing the ship he helped design moving closer to full service, there is nothing better according to Conor.

He smiles: “It’s magnificent to see the ship that we helped design get closer to competition. Knowing that we had a hand in it, is a great feeling.”

GRAHAM Boag has the rather unenviable task of making sure the largest section of the HMS Prince of Wales reaches its Rosyth base in one piece.

The 11,200 tonnes section is so big it will travel round the country by barge from its current position in Govan to join the rest of the carrier at the Rosyth dry docks.

The Dunfermline born 27-year-old is now a Lead Project Manager for the Transportation Team following two years in BAE’s graduate intake scheme.

He says: “It’s basically our job to make sure the section get’s around the country to its destination safely. It’s a massive challenge; we have to float the section onto a barge because it is too big to go by road then we need to float it around the country to Rosyth.

“The section is so big it almost acts as a giant parachute so we have the wind to contend with and the high seas. We also need a special tide called a ‘spring tide’ to get the section into position and it only lasts four or five days so the schedule is incredibly tight.”

Graham’s first involvement with shipbuilding was a university project whilst studying engineering at Herriot Watt that saw him build a magnet propelled mini submersible,

He explains: “My dad was engineer in the coal mines so that got me interested in engineering but I didn’t have any background with shipbuilding or the navy until I built a little submarine as part of my masters - that made me think about shipbuilding and then I was lucky enough to get onto BAE’s graduate intake scheme.”

And for Graham, being instrumental in the success of the move is a challenge he finds incredibly satisfying.

“When I look out my office window and see the section we are about to move an how the ship is coming together in Rosyth its gives you huge satisfaction – I don’t think there is another job that would provide me with as much satisfaction as this one.

WITH a fresh intake of apprentices at BAE, union convenor Malcolm Linn hopes the skills passed onto the next generation of Clydeside ship builders will secure the industry’s future.

85 new craft apprentices are set to take up their roles soon and will work on the carriers currently under construction.

IT’S A long way from helping her dad Lachie “fix stuff” at home to working on the UK’s biggest ever warship.

Apprentice pipe-fitter Laura Black, one of the 3500-strong team responsible for designing and building HMS Queen Elizabeth, explains: “My dad’s a welder, so I used to help him when I was younger, growing up in Campbeltown.”

She grins: “I was the like the son he never had. I loved woodwork and technical at school, but there weren’t too many of those kinds of jobs around when I left, so I came up to Glasgow.”

Securing a three-year apprenticeship with Bae Systems (Laura is time-served this week), she admits it was daunting the first time she walked into the shipyard.

“It’s huge, and dark and noisy and nothing like I imagined,” she recalls. “I was a bit scared, to be honest. But as I’ve learned and gained experience, I’ve really learned to love this environment. Everyone has been so helpful too, I’ve learned a lot.

"Being a woman has never been an issue - I don't think anyone thinks we're not as good as the men doing the same job."

Laura, who now lives in Kilbowie, says working on installing pipes for the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth was a fantastic experience.

“At the time you are part of a team, just working hard to get things done, but when I saw the whole ship together at the naming ceremony, it was amazing,” smiles Laura, who won the Trades House of Glasgow’s Apprentice of the Year award earlier this year.

“To think your work is part of it, serving the Navy, is a great feeling.

“I didn’t know much about Glasgow’s shipbuilding history when I was growing up, but it’s a great world to be part of. I feel proud to be part of the industry, keeping the history alive and working on all these new ships getting built here.”