How to Build an Aircraft Carrier

The incredible story behind HMS Queen Elizabeth, the 60,000 ton star of BBC2’s THE WARSHIP

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How to Build an Aircraft Carrier

By: Chris Terrill

Narrated by: Adam James

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Hear the enthralling story of the HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Navy's largest ever warship.

65,000 tons. 280 metres long. A flight deck the size of sixty tennis courts. A giant piece of Sovereign British territory that's home to up to fifty Aircraft. HMS Queen Elizabeth in the biggest ship in the Royal Navy's history and one of the most ambitious and exacting engineering projects ever undertaken in the UK.

But it's her ship's company of 700, alongside an air group of 900 air and ground crew that are Big Lizzie's beating heart. And How to Build an Aircraft Carrier tells their story.

From before the first steel of her hull was cut, Chris Terrill has enjoyed unprecedented access to the Queen Elizabeth and the men and women who have brought her to life. From Jerry Kyd, the ship's inspirational captain, to Cdr Nathan Gray, the first pilot to land Britain's new stealth jet fighter on her deck, Terrill has won the trust and confidence of the ship's people.

How to Build an Aircraft Carrier tells the story of Britain at her best: innovative, confident, outward-looking and world-beating.

© Chris Terrill 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Air Forces

Armed Forces

Engineering

Military

Naval Forces

Royalty

Royal Navy

Thought-Provoking

Inspiring

England

Air Forces Armed Forces Engineering Military Naval Forces Royalty Royal Navy Thought-Provoking Inspiring England

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Critic reviews

Terrill takes us deep into the bowels of Britain's biggest warship . . . Exhilarating

Celebrates remarkable feats of engineering.

Most relevant

Great listening. Adam James has a remarkable range of voices from Irish brogue and Cockney rhyming slang to Liverpudlian drawl and a fine Caribbean lilt. Surprised how funny this book is too as well as very moving in places.