The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Fife-built giant ship officially joins Navy fleet
Ceremony today featuring Queen and Prime Minister will accept £3.1bn vessel
The Fife-built HMS Queen Elizabeth will be officially welcomed into the Royal Navy in a special ceremony today.
At 280m long and with an estimated half a century working life, the £3.1 billion behemoth Rosyth-built aircraft carrier is the biggest and most powerful warship ever built by the UK.
The Queen, Princess Anne, the Prime Minister Theresa May and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson are all set to witness the 65,000 tonne vessel being accepted into the Royal Navy.
Speaking to the Press Association Captain Jerry Kyd described the commissioning ceremony, being held at the ship’s home base in Portsmouth today, as a “major milestone”.
“Building aircraft carriers is not for the faint hearted. There are very few countries who can do this around the world,” he said.
“So we should look at our British industry, our designers, all the skills, all the production companies around the country, the shipyards from Devon through to Fife, to the Royal Navy, who have come together to make this happen.
“We should be really proud as a country. This has been a national endeavour – it has just been fantastic, it is really a culmination of all our hard work.”
Set to be the nation’s future flagship, the aircraft carrier can be pressed into action for various tasks, such as highintensity war fighting or providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief.
She will also serve as a floating military base for the F-35B stealth fighter jets that will launch from the deck of the vessel to undertake missions.
Capt Kyd said hosting the Queen and having the monarch step on board for the commissioning ceremony was a “complete honour”, adding she would no doubt be “justly proud” of the sailors.
“I think this is the culmination of a number of years of real excitement,” he said when quizzed about the significance of the ceremony in the ship’s life so far.
“The first sailing from Rosyth was only nine months ago, we have come a long way.”
Pressed on what was next for the aircraft carrier after commissioning, Capt Kyd said it was about getting her ready to “go out on the world stage.
“Next year is all about integrating the aircraft properly, helicopters at the beginning of the year and then we go to the United States to embark the F-35B, the new jet,” he said.
During the ceremony the commissioning warrant will be read and the Blue Ensign, which has been flying from the ship until it is formally handed over to the Royal Navy, will be replaced with the White Ensign.