o million eggs and 355,000 pints of milk: HMS Queen Elizabeth's CSG21 deployment in numbers The aircraft carrier is on the return leg of her maiden deployment – here's an alternative look at the mission.

9th December 2021 at 3:09pm

Royal Navy flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to arrive back in the UK today after six months deployed leading the UK Carrier Strike Group.

The £3.2bn aircraft carrier has led the Carrier Strike Group across three oceans and five seas, sailing 49,000 nautical miles. 

Here is a look at HMS Queen Elizabeth's Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21) deployment in numbers, from the number of eggs eaten and pints of milk drunk to the flying distance of the F-35Bs.

• Watch: 24 hours on HMS Queen Elizabeth below decks 
• Watch: What is it like scrambling F-35Bs from HMS Queen Elizabeth?
• F-35s operating from HMS Queen Elizabeth again following crash

A major part of the deployment has been the carrier projecting the Government's 'Global Britain' message.

It has seen HMS Queen Elizabeth and her accompanying vessels sail 500,000 nautical miles through 10 different time zones –  engaging with at least 67 ambassadors, 63 foreign ministers and 40 nations.

The group has visited or exercised with 44 countries including Cyprus, Singapore, Japan and India.

Three thousand seven hundred personnel from nine ships, a submarine, five air squadrons and a company of Royal Marines will arrive home in time for Christmas having departed the UK in May – 201 days ago.

Watch: What is it like scrambling F-35Bs from HMS Queen Elizabeth?

Another key cog of the deployment has been seeing what the onboard multi-role F-35Bs, costing nearly £89m each, are capable of.

Since setting sail in May, the jets on the carrier have covered a distance equivalent to flying around the world at least 40 times and completed more than 3,000 deck landings – 1,000 of those by night.

To operate such a huge ship – 280m long and 70m wide to be exact – plus all the aircraft, it requires a lot of personnel (1,600) and they need food to keep them going.

The ship and her company have used more than 355,000 pints of milk, at least two million eggs, 200 tonnes of potatoes – the equivalent weight of 15 London buses – and more than 22,000kg of Angel Delight (enough to fill 280 bathtubs) during CSG21.