Reuters — Britain’s most advanced and biggest warship, 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, continued its sea trials on Tuesday (August 15) off the Isle of Wight in England.
The ship, which measures 280 metres and can travel 500 miles a day, set sail in June from Rosyth dockyard in Fife where it was built.
It took eight years to build HMS Queen Elizabeth and along with its sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, it is part of a defence programme worth 6 billion pounds ($7.65 billion), with building and fitting spread over six different shipyards across Britain. It will now spend around two years in sea trials.
It was scheduled to be fully operational by 2020 but that date may now be as late as 2026, Britain’s National Audit Office said earlier this year, because of technical difficulties.