31st July 2024 at 10:38am
HMS Queen Elizabeth has returned home after four months of repairs and a short intensive time at sea to test her systems.
Cheering crowds welcomed the 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier back as she sailed into Portsmouth Harbour just after 20:30 on Tuesday.
Before returning to HMNB Portsmouth, the Royal Navy’s flagship sailed alongside the Isle of Wight for the Cowes Week regatta – where she exchanged gun salutes with the Royal Yacht Squadron.
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HMS Queen Elizabeth left Rosyth Dockyard a week ago following unscheduled work in dry dock to her shaft lines which began in March.
She then spent seven days at sea being put through her paces on trials to test her systems to the maximum.
This has included marine engineering trials, sailing at high speed for extended periods and manoeuvring as aggressively as possible to give the command team full confidence in her systems following the docking period.
Now home in Portsmouth, preparations will begin for operations this autumn.
Commanding Officer of HMS Queen Elizabeth, Captain Will King, said: “Whilst no warship wants to find itself spending unscheduled time out of the water, I am enormously proud of the work that has gone on in Rosyth.
“Everybody on board is looking forward to getting back to sea, where we belong, and picking up a busy programme in the autumn.”
To get the carrier back to sea has been a joint effort between the Royal Navy, Defence Equipment & Support and Babcock.
Commander Alex Davies, head of the marine engineering department, said: “An enormous amount of work has taken place over the last few months to get us to this point.
“This is at the larger end of the scale for Royal Navy Marine Engineering, and it has taken a really effective team effort from our own engineers, Defence Equipment and Support, and our industry partners to return us to sea.”
The Rosyth repairs to HMS Queen Elizabeth took place after her departure to lead the Nato exercise Steadfast Defender in February was cancelled at the last minute after an “issue” with a propeller shaft was spotted during final checks.
Instead HMS Prince of Wales took her place on the major exercise.
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