Senior members of the US Navy and US Marine Corps visited HMS Queen Elizabeth in build at Rosyth.

After meeting representatives of Navy Command Carrier Strike team, the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, and the ship’s company, they were given a brief on the UK’s future carrier capability and a tour of the ship.

The US and the UK have been working closely together on aircraft carrier operations over the last few years, and Royal Navy sailors are already training on US ships around the world.

In January last year the US and UK Defence Ministers signed an agreement to enhance the cooperation between the two countries in terms of carrier strike interoperability called the US-UK Statement of Intent. The aim is for US aircraft to be able to operate from UK aircraft carriers and vice versa.

Senior Naval Officer on board HMS Queen Elizabeth Captain Simon Petitt said: “ They (USN) are providing significant support to the UK as we deliver Carrier Strike and both of us are learning how to embark a new type of aircraft on our flight decks.

“However, our new carriers (the Queen Elizabeth Class) are very different to those the USN operate and this visit was extremely useful. We showed them our ship and they were impressed with many of the new and exciting features built into the design of HMS Queen Elizabeth and her sister ship.”

HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to arrive in Portsmouth by 2017 and has been pieced together at Rosyth where her sister ship HMS Prince of Wales is also under construction. Her hull is now complete, the radar has been lifted into place and only the aircraft lifts remain outstanding to finish the outer construction.

Following the visit to HMS Queen Elizabeth the US Navy and US Marine team met with Armed Forces Minister Mark Francois on Thursday to discuss further the opportunities for UK-US carrier strike integration.

Press Release, January 24, 2014