Royal Navy's £3.2bn aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales hit by flood
SAILORS onboard Britain’s newest £3.2bn aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales have been battling a significant flood on the warship.
The mighty 65,000-tonne vessel, the largest ever built for the Royal Navy, sprung a leak earlier today.
Footage shared with The News this morning shows streams water gushing through doors, flooding a room on the carrier.
The cause of the leak has been isolated and contained and the navy has now launched an investigation into the incident.
A Royal Navy spokesman added: ‘Following an issue with an internal system in HMS Prince of Wales, the ship’s company removed water from one of the ship’s compartments.
'No one was injured and an investigation into the cause of the issue is underway.’
It’s understood the leak has come from a pipe onboard the ship and not a breach of Prince of Wales’s hull.
The flood is the second to affect the ship in five months, which is alongside at Portsmouth Naval Base and preparing for her latest voyage to sea.
Speaking at the time, a spokesman for the navy said: ‘Following a minor issue with an internal system on HMS Prince of Wales the ship’s company were required to remove a small volume of water from the ship.
‘An investigation into the cause is now under way, but this will not affect the ship’s programme.’
Much of the water from the latest flood is now in a containment tank and is expected to be pumped off the ship later today, a defence source said.
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