Giant aircraft carrier to set sail today
HMS Queen Elizabeth is to begin 2 years of trials
Last updated 26th Jun 2017
The largest and most powerful ship ever built for the Royal Navy is expected to leave her home port for the first time today.
HMS Queen Elizabeth, a 280-metre, 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier is due to set out from Rosyth on the Firth of Forth - subject to final checks, tides and the Scottish weather.
Parts of the vessel were built at the Govan shipyard on the Clyde and sailed around Scotland to the Forth where there have been assembled into the finished ship.
The behemoth, which is set to be the nation's future flagship, and her 700-strong ship's company are ready to undertake her maiden sea trials over the summer.
However the vast vessel must first get out to sea - a major operation where timing is key.
Navigators, pilots and tug boats have the slimmest of margins to deal with to guide HMS Queen Elizabeth out of the Rosyth basin where she was assembled.
At high tide the ship was taken through a narrow gate avoiding the dock walls by inches, while under the water line there was just half a metre between the bottom of the ship and the sea bed.
"They are symbols of national power. They are totemic symbols of your ambition, your need to be an outward-facing global Britain." - Captain Jerry Kyd
Commanding officer Captain Jerry Kyd said: "We have to be very careful, but you practise it and drill it and rehearse it to make sure we could do it safely in a timely fashion because the tide waits for no man.''
Once in the Forth, the carrier must then wait for the tide to lower to pass under the Firth's famous bridges.
Ten thousand people worked on the construction of the ship, made up in sections at yards around the UK and transported to Rosyth where it was assembled.
The second ship in the class, HMS Prince of Wales, is being fitted out in the dock and staff will be able to look on as its sister ship sets sail for the first time.
The sea trials will take place in the North Sea before the carrier returns to Rosyth for further checks and any adjustments.
Captain Kyd said: "After that we're going back out for a further three weeks to test the ship on the more war-fighting capabilities - the radars, all the ship's sensors, radios and things like that.
"At the end of that period we know that all the basics work. She's done her test drive and after that we will go down to Portsmouth, the ship's home, and get her finally ready to join the Royal Navy fleet, hopefully at the end of the year."
During her estimated 50-year working life, HMS Queen Elizabeth could be pressed into action for various work such as high intensity war fighting or providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief anywhere in the world.
Despite the size of the aircraft carrier, Captain Kyd said it remains an £incredibly flexible tool'' that was not only about war fighting, but deterrence, political signalling, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance.
Rapid developments in technology have led to discussions over the future of defence, with the likes of unmanned drones and cyber warfare, but the commanding officer believes HMS Queen Elizabeth and sister ship HMS Prince of Wales will prove good value over the next 50 years.
"These ships are expensive, absolutely, but look at all the major nations around the world, they all have an aircraft carrier capability. Why is that?
"The reason being is that (aircraft carriers) provide the government, very simply, with an incredibly flexible tool - it's not just about war fighting but deterrence, coercion, political signalling, providing a huge sea base for disaster relief and humanitarian assistance.
"This is why as a national symbol, not just of military power projection but British ambition and being a global outward facing country, it would seem odd as a maritime nation not to have a Royal Navy that could do that job for you.
"They are symbols of national power. They are totemic symbols of your ambition, your need to be an outward-facing global Britain, ready to play its full part in the western defence of democracy and security around the world. You can't do that with nothing.
"The investment in these aircraft carriers for me is logical, it's rock solid and a strategic necessity.
"I think it's a pretty good investment, £6 billion for two ships, I think in 50 years time we'll look back and think that was extremely good value because they will be used a lot."