PORTSMOUTH, UK - Britain's future flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth sailed into her home port of Portsmouth for the first time August 16.
Greeted by thousands of people lining the Portsmouth seafront, the 65,000-tonne carrier was met with the warmest of welcomes as she arrived in her home port this morning.
Sailors lined the flight deck of the largest warship ever built for the Royal Navy as she passed Portsmouth's Round Tower. HMS Queen Elizabeth was also greeted with a flypast from the Fleet Air Arm, including Wildcat and Merlin helicopters and Hawk jets.
"Today we welcome our mighty new warship, HMS Queen Elizabeth to her home for the very first time," said Secretary of State for Defence Sir Michael Fallon. "She is Britain's statement to the world: a demonstration of British military power and our commitment to a bigger global role."
The carrier program has brought together the best of British industry, with construction taking place across six cities and involving more than 10,000 people. This includes 700 businesses and suppliers, 800 apprentices and nearly 8,000 jobs at shipyards around the UK.
The UK has 11 F-35 Lightning II jets and 120 UK personnel training in the United States. By the end of this year that will be 14 jets, with trial flights from the carrier's deck on track to begin next year.
The ship will berth at the newly-named and upgraded Princess Royal Jetty at Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth, which will be home to both of the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers. The second, HMS Prince of Wales, will be officially named in a ceremony at Rosyth next month.
The berth has been upgraded and strengthened to support the carriers as part of a £100 million raft of infrastructure upgrades which took place ahead of the arrival of the ship.
A total of 3.2 million cubic meters of sediment, equivalent to 1,280 Olympic swimming pools has been removed from the harbor and approach channel, making it wide and deep enough to accommodate the enormous 65,000 tonne ships.
Both aircraft carriers are being delivered by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, a partnership between the Ministry of Defence and industry.
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