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:
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.
[mappress] Press Release, July 4, 2014