The first of Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers wrapped up her second round of trials returning to her homeport on November 21.
Her Majesty’s Naval base Portsmouth will be where the future HMS Queen Elizabeth will be commissioned into service by Her Majesty the Queen herself, on December 7.
It will be the first time the queen has visited the UK’s new flagship since she formally named her in Rosyth, Scotland, in July 2014. Since then the ship has been completed, sailed into her home dock of Portsmouth for the first time in August.
HMS Queen Elizabeth is one two 65,000-tonne carriers – the biggest warships ever to be built in Britain. Her sister ship HMS Prince of Wales is set to be handed over to the navy in 2019.
Once they enter service, the two carriers will provide over 4 acres of sovereign territory which can be deployed around the world, travelling at upwards of 500nm a day. Both ships will be capable of carrying up to 36 F-35B Lightning II stealth jets, capable of landing vertically on the flight deck.