Mind the gap, Your Majesty!

Britain’s biggest warship Queen Elizabeth to set sail under Forth Bridge... with just six feet to spare

AFTER nearly a decade of construction, Britain’s biggest ever warship will set sail for the first time today.

But before it can start policing the seas, the £3.1billion aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth must deal with its first test – squeezing under a set of bridges.

All eyes today will be on Chief Petty Officer Andrew Vercoe as he steers the 932ft-long vessel out of the dock at Rosyth and into the North Sea in a nerve-racking ten-hour operation.

With the aid of 11 tug boats and two pilots on the shore, the 65,000 tonne leviathan will have to squeeze out of the basin with just 14 inches to spare on each side.

Then the 733-strong crew will have to wait for a low tide and the perfect wind conditions before it can pass under three bridges in the River Forth in a process that has been simulated some 30 times. As the carrier approaches the final crossing, the 127-year-old Forth Bridge, the ship’s captain will even resort to a sextant – a navigation tool used in the 18th century – to get his measurements correct.

Then, with the warship’s mast-topping radar bent at 60 degrees – it should glide under with just over 6ft to spare. Out in the open sea lurks another challenge – as the operation is likely to be closely watched by the Russians. Navy chiefs expect foreign submarines to try to record the carrier’s unique ‘ acoustic signature’. There could also be spy ships from a Baltic Sea base and Tupolev Tu-214R spy planes.

Commodore Jerry Kyd, captain of the carrier, said: ‘You can’t have a ship of this scale and this strategic nature not to attract interest from all sorts of avenues, particularly potential enemies, and they’ll be watching with interest I’m sure, as we watch them.’

He added: ‘Whether it’s an aircraft or another ship coming close to us, we will deal with it as necessary.’ After sea trials, the carrier will be handed over to the Royal Navy in Portsmouth and is likely to deploy to the Gulf first.

Bristling with technology, it will boast 24 of the world’s most advanced stealth fighter jets – the F-35B Lightning II and its radar can track objects the size of snooker balls 20km away.

The carrier, along with its sister ship HMS Prince of Wales, is expected to be the backbone of Allied air power for the next 50 years. Calling it a ‘sea base’, Cdre Kyd said the warship would enable Britain to pack a ‘serious punch’ and be used in disaster relief, humanitarian assistance, defence and selling British industry abroad.

He said: ‘It is a fantastic backdrop to all that is good about the country and this is why it is a national symbol, and not just military power projection, but also about British ambition, about being a globally outward facing country.’ Cdre Kyd was the commanding officer of HMS Illustrious, which was decommissioned in 2014 after 32 years in service.

‘The Russians will be watching’