Currently being built at shipyards around the country, HMS Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales are the future flagships of the nation. Initially the ships will carry helicopters.
The vast flight deck and hangar can accommodate any helicopter in Britain’s military inventory. From 2020, however, our punch will be delivered by the F35 Lightning II, the world’s most advanced stealth fighter-bomber.
Both ships are being constructed in numerous shipyards in one of the most demanding and revolutionary shipbuilding programmes ever undertaken, with the pieces being slotted together in a specially-extended dry dock at Rosyth on the Forth to create two 65,000-ton leviathans.
Both ships are expected to serve for up to 50 years.