HMS Queen Elizabeth is today (Tuesday) marking her 5th anniversary of arriving in Portsmouth.
The flagship, the largest and most powerful vessel ever constructed for the Royal Navy, made her debut on the Solent 5 years ago and was formally commissioned in December 2017.
As well as state-of-the-art weaponry and communications systems, HMS Queen Elizabeth boasts 5 gyms, a chapel and a medical centre on board. She weighs a total of 65,000 tonnes and can travel at an impressive 25+ knots.
Since her arrival, she has travelled the globe on many operations and exercises, showing the UK’s commitment to global leadership and cooperation. In 2019, she supported the NATO task group in Westlant19, a significant milestone for the ship which had Royal Navy and RAF jets embarked for the first time. The 5-week exercise took place on the east coast of North America and was designed to put the F-35 jets and the carrier’s capabilities through their paces through a series of mission briefs, weapon drops, and much more.
In 2021, the flagship was at the heart of the Carrier Strike Group, a British led, self-contained force providing cutting-edge air, surface, and underwater defence. The 7-month deployment saw HMS Queen Elizabeth working alongside global allies and partners across the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Indian oceans.
In between operations, HMS Queen Elizabeth is still as busy as ever. She has received over 1 million hours of contractor support at her home in Portsmouth Naval Base from the likes of BAE Systems, Babcock and Thales who have been instrumental in supporting maintenance and upgrading capabilities of the ship.
She has hosted major international events such as Atlantic Future Forum, a 2-day summit where Royal Navy personnel were joined by political and industry leaders to discuss new ways of combatting global instability. The flagship was also the host of the official 40th anniversary commemorations of the Falklands conflict. The reception welcomed 200 veterans from across the Armed Forces, members of the South Atlantic Medal Association and Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.
His Royal Highness was not the only Prince of Wales in Portsmouth Naval Base for this event, HMS Queen Elizabeth’s sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, is also currently alongside in Portsmouth. The sister ships first sailed together in May 2021 to conclude the Carrier Strike Group exercise, a historical moment for the Royal Navy.
Over the last 5 years HMS Queen Elizabeth has brought a huge sense of pride to not only the city of Portsmouth but across the UK and overseas. Her global efforts over the last five years have demonstrated the UK’s commitment to a modern and ready Royal Navy.
Great news etc.
Question, when the two ships were built, there was a big deal made about there was no British planes capable to fly/land off it, and we had to realiey on U.S. and European planes.
All we had at the time was helicopters.
Has this been rectifyed ?
There are planes. F35b, where UK is the only Tier 1 partner. Huge technical input into the B version from the UK. In addition, UK builds 15% of every F35 – whatever the version. UK will likely buy 74, more potentially to follow. That’s taking time, but UK is keen to get versions that don’t require an expensive update later on.
The F35 is an extremely capable aircraft. With its low RCS of 0.005m2 and its advanced avionics and weapons systems and, importantly, its sensor fusion suite, the first thing most enemies will know its about is when they go kaboom.
The only thing the Russians have that is remotely comparable is the Su-57 and, while it’s certainly a quicker and more agile aircraft than the F35, its RCS of 0.1m2 and poorer radar and weapons systems mean that its no match for an F35 BVR. There are also only a literal handful in service while NATO can field over 400 F35s.
This is the aircraft that gives Russian generals nightmares.