IT'S a weighty problem and is being tackled by hundreds of shipyard workers at the BAE Systems yard on the Clyde.

They are about to begin joining together two giant blocks of hardened steel to form a floating hotel with sports complex, armoury and bakery which will form part of the hull of Britain's biggest ever warship.

It will be a super sized structure for a super sized battleship.

This one combined block will weigh 9300 tonnes – heavier than a Clyde-built Type 45 destroyer or an Astute attack submarine.

Once fitted together, the 63 metre long structure will be taken by barge to Rosyth, on the Forth, to form the mid section of the Prince of Wales.

It's the second of two aircraft carriers being built in sections at yards across the UK. They are the biggest warships ever to be constructed in Britain.

And workers at the Clyde yard have been entrusted to build some of the most difficult and time consuming blocks. LB03 is the working title for the super sized section to be merged on the river.

The first steel was cut in Govan in May last year and around one million man hours will have been spent completing the block before it is ready to sail to the Fife yard.

It will house a hanger and crew quarters, including 160 cabins – 134 single and double berths for naval officers and 26 six-bed cabins for junior ratings.

This block will also house the ship's bakery, a dining hall and a galley for junior crew.

Angus Hold, the carrier project programme director, said: "The team on the Clyde has once again produced some magnificent work and I can't thank them enough."

The carrier work on the Clyde is a combined effort, involving sister yards at Govan and Scotstoun which have a combined workforce of around 3000.

BAE staff are also working on a second, bigger block for the Prince of Wales.

Called LB04, it will form part of the stern and house the ship's propulsion system.

Identical sections have also been built for the sister carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, which is due to enter service in 2016, with the Prince of Wales due to be battle ready two years later.

The £5 billion project looked to be in jeopardy due to the worldwide economic downturn but was given the green light shortly after the Tories and LibDems formed their coalition.

The future is still uncertain for the Clyde yards. BAE are threatening to close one of them, or another yard at Portsmouth, because they don't have sufficient orders to keep open all three.

There have been hints that shipbuilding in Glasgow will survive, but until Europe's biggest defence contractor makes a public statement, following a detailed review of its surface fleet operations, the cloud of uncertainty will remain.

gordon.thomson@ eveningtimes.co.uk