UK aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is named
A solemn naming ceremony was held Friday at Scotrland based Rosyth dockyard for the HMS Queen Elizabeth. Her Majesty The Queen officially named the aircraft carrier, the Prime Minister and the Defence Secretary, the UK Ministry of Defence said on Friday.
The naming ceremony concluded with the smashing of a bottle of whisky over the bow of the ship. Whilst traditionally a bottle of champagne is used to smash against the bow, given the carrier’s Scottish roots, it seemed most fitting for a bottle of Islay whisky to be used instead.
Towering at 56 metres and weighing in at 65,000 tonnes, HMS Queen Elizabeth is the largest ship ever built for the Royal Navy. She will be used in a full range of military tasks, from war-fighting to providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief.
Operating with Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter jets onboard and having a long-range 3D radar fitted which can track a tennis ball travelling at 2,000 miles per hour, HMS Queen Elizabeth will be versatile enough to carry out these capabilities.
Blocks of the ship were manufactured at yards in Devon, Rosyth, Portsmouth, on the Clyde, and on the Tyne, before being assembled in the dockyard at Rosyth.
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said: "HMS Queen Elizabeth is the largest ship that the Royal Navy has ever had, and is a true demonstration of the UK at its best, with over 10,000 people across the nation working together to deliver her."
Now that she has been named, the dock will be flooded to enable HMS Queen Elizabeth to float for the first time. Work to prepare the ship for sea trials in 2017 and flight trials with Lightning II aircraft in 2018 will continue.
Work is already underway on HMS Queen Elizabeth’s sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, which will start to be assembled in Rosyth dockyard later this year.
