The largest warship ever built in the UK eased into the Firth of Forth as it set out on two years of sea trials HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier, left her dock in Scotland in a delicate operation that took around three hours.
Replacements are years away and still Britain’s last aircraft carrier, ‘HMS Illustrious,’ has set sail to be scrapped in Turkey. The vessel, known as 'Lusty,' came into service in 1982 and was rushed into service to catch the lattermost stages of the Falklands War. She also served in the Gulf Wars and Sierra Leone conflict. It was one of three Invincible-class ships commissioned in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The UK Royal Navy is to get the second operational aircraft carrier, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced. Britain is building two 65,000-ton aircraft carriers in a £6.2 billion deal with a BAE Systems-led industry alliance, but the Conservative-led coalition had previously said it would mothball or sell the second warship due to the cost of operating two carriers.
The offshore patrol vessels (OPVs), which will be used by the Royal Navy to undertake various tasks in support of UK interests both at home and abroad, will be built at BAE Systems’ shipyards in Glasgow.
The Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier has been officially named by Her Majesty the Queen at a ceremony in Scotland on Friday. Hundreds of workers who have helped to build the HMS Queen Elizabeth, along with the ship’s company, joined the Prime Minister, Defence Secretary, military Chiefs and dignitaries to witness Her Majesty christen her namesake with a bottle of whisky.
The naming of HMS Queen Elizabeth, which takes place this Friday at Rosyth, Scotland is a unique occasion of historical significance as it marks the beginning of a new era of UK carrier operations.
British Prime Minister, David Cameron, visited Rosyth dockyard on Monday to see the work taking place to build the first of the two new Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers.
The first of the UK's next generation of stealth combat aircraft, Lightning II, was handed over to the Ministry of Defence at a ceremony in Fort Worth, Texas. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond formally accepted the first of the jets which are short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and are manufactured by Lockheed Martin.