November 2 - ALE has skidded the 26,500-tonne forward section of the aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, in the UK's Rosyth Dockyard, which the company claims is the heaviest item it has ever skidded.
ALE was contracted by Babcock International Group, on behalf of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, to jack up and skid a total of four sections as part of the aircraft carrier project. In 2013, ALE completed operations on the first warship, HMS Queen Elizabeth.
The HMS Prince of Wales project involved jacking up and skidding two sections - weighing 13,050 tonnes and 26,500 tonnes respectively.
ALE first jacked up the sections from their supports, before skidding the lighter unit approximately 94 m and the heavier piece by around 18 m. The skidshoes used for the skidding operation consisted of a built-in jacking system that ALE said could be easily installed under the bespoke building supports.
The company used a total of 35 skidshoes for the lighter module and 58 skidshoes for the heavier module, both with a minimum capacity of 500 tonnes; while 800 m of skid track was required to skid the lighter section and 650 m was used to skid the heavier section, explained ALE.
