The HMS Queen Elizabeth, billed as the most powerful aircraft carrier in the Royal Navy, held its launch ceremony on July 4 local time. The carrier is expected to enter formal service in 2017 and reach initial operational capability in 2020. It has been disclosed that the heavy gantry crane used for assembly in the dock where the carrier was built, as well as the bridge cranes used to assemble the carrier, were manufactured and supplied by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (ZPMC) of China.
The carrier was built using a segmented modular construction method: individual shipyards first built carrier segments or large components, which were then transported to the dock for final assembly. Throughout the carrier's construction, Chinese bridge cranes played a pivotal role in lifting and installing the carrier; the lifting and installation of large components such as the island superstructure and the ski-jump deck were all completed using these Chinese cranes.
Reports note that the UK has long maintained a weapons embargo against China, and most European countries and the United States also strictly control weapons exports to China—even electronic components and parts in cutting-edge fields are banned from sale to China under the label of “threatening national security.” Yet when building advanced weapons and equipment, the UK is happy to use Chinese engineering machinery, which “must be said to be somewhat ironic.”