HMS Queen Elizabeth Christened
The Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, has been officially named by Her Majesty the Queen at a ceremony in Scotland.
The ceremony, held at Rosyth dockyard near Edinburgh, marks the completion of the flagship which is the largest ship built for the Royal Navy:
- With a height of 56 meters she is taller than Niagara falls;
- At 280 meters long she has a flight deck the size of 60 tennis courts;
- Four jumbo jets could fit alongside each other on the 70 meter wide deck;
- Her range is 10,000 nautical miles and she carries enough fuel to transport a family car to the moon and back twelve times;
- She is fitted with a long range 3D radar that is capable of tracking more than 1,000 targets at once or can spot a tennis ball travelling at 2,000 miles per hour.
The construction of HMS Queen Elizabeth has sustained around 8,000 jobs at more than 100 companies across the UK.
Blocks of the ship were manufactured at six yards in Devon, Rosyth, Portsmouth and on the Clyde and Tyne before being assembled in Rosyth.
HMS Queen Elizabeth is the first warship to be christened by Her Majesty in 15 years.
To honour the ship’s birthplace in Scotland, a bottle of Islay whisky from the first distillery the Queen visited was smashed against the bow.
Following today’s naming ceremony the dock will be flooded to enable HMS Queen Elizabeth to float for the first time. Work to prepare the ship for her sea trials in 2017 and flight trials with Lightning II aircraft in 2018 will continue.
Work is already underway on the HMS Queen Elizabeth’s sister ship HMS Prince of Wales which will start to be assembled in Rosyth dockyard later this year.
Press Release, July 4, 2014
