Giant sisters home together at last
THE Royal Navy’s two giant aircraft carriers have docked together, stern to bow, for the first time at their home base of Portsmouth.
HMS Queen Elizabeth arrived at the Hampshire naval base following a three-month deployment to the US for test flights of its F-35B Lightning jets.
The 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier manoeuvred into place alongside its sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, which arrived for the first time at Portsmouth last month and will be commissioned later this month by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.
The Queen Elizabeth and its carrier strike group sailed from the UK in August to carry out the flight tests involving the multi-role jets for the first time.
As the ship sailed into the harbour yesterday, the crew tweeted: “What a beautiful morning for our entry. It’s hard to believe just weeks ago we were flying F-35s from these decks for the very first time. Home is in clear view.”
Commodore Steve Moorhouse, commanding officer of Queen Elizabeth, said: “Homecomings are always a special occasion but to be returning to Portsmouth, with HMS Prince of Wales welcoming us home, makes this a particularly special occasion.
“This has been an extremely successful deployment for HMS
Queen Elizabeth. Embarking UK F-35B Lightnings for the first time and integrating them within the carrier strike group is a significant milestone and we are well set for an equally demanding 2020 and our first operational deployment in 2021.”
Captain James Blackmore, commander of the air group for the British carrier strike group, said: “The fiveweek period of operational tests with UK
Officers wave to families as HMS Queen Elizabeth docks
F-35BS from the UK Lightning force was significant and historic.
“As the last pilot to fly Harrier from the deck of HMS Ark Royal in 2010, it filled me with tremendous pride to see UK fixed-wing aircraft operate once more from a British carrier.”
Identical twins Luke and Kurtis Williams, 29, who both serve as leading airmen on HMS Queen Elizabeth – which itself is identical to twin HMS Prince of Wales – were welcomed by their family as they arrived in their home city.
Kurtis, who was met by his son, Harry, jokingly said that having a twin on board had its perks as they could pretend to be each other, adding: “He does the duties so I’ve got perks as I don’t have to do as many.”
The HMS Queen Elizabeth was launched in 2014, while HMS Prince of Wales was launched in 2017.
Major upgrade work has been carried out on the jetties at Portsmouth so the two giant ships can berth next to each other.
During their 50-year service, the two 280m carriers can be pressed into action for various roles such as military operations or providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief.
As well as state-of-theart weaponry and communications systems, HMS Queen Elizabeth has five gyms, a chapel and medical centre. She has a top speed of
32 knots (36.7m/hour) and a range of 10,000 nautical miles (11,800m).