Sea vessels

HMS Queen Elizabeth: All you need to know about the aircraft carrier

The aircraft carrier can be thought of as a base at sea and can carry up to 72 aircraft at maximum capacity.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is the joint largest and most powerful vessel ever constructed for the Royal Navy.

In 2021, the aircraft carrier led the UK's Carrier Strike Group as HMS Queen Elizabeth's first operational deployment – returning in December last year.

More recently, the aircraft carrier has deployed around the UK, as well as hosting a number of military sporting events, before heading to the US to replace her damaged sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales.

The UK's Carrier Strike Group is expected to reach Full Operating Capability by December 2023, the Ministry of Defence(MOD) said.

The £3.2bn aircraft carrier formed a UK Carrier Strike Group for the first time in the North Sea in October as part of NATO's Exercise Joint Warrior, and has now assumed the duty of fleet flagship from HMS Albion.

Watch: HMS Queen Elizabeth sails from Portsmouth, replacing damaged sister ship.

The key numbers:

The project to build HMS Queen Elizabeth and sister ship HMS Prince of Wales cost more than £6bn.
The aircraft carrier weighs 65,000 tonnes and has a top speed of 25 knots.
She can carry up to 72 aircraft, with a maximum capacity of 36 F-35B fighter jets. It is more likely the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers will have up to 24 Lightning jets on board for operations, however.
Her flight deck is 280m long and 70m wide – enough space for three football pitches.
The ship is the second in the Royal Navy to be named Queen Elizabeth.
The ship has a crew of about 700, increasing to 1,600 when a full complement of F-35B jets and Crowsnest helicopters are embarked.
There are 364,000m of pipes inside the ship.
Both HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales will keep 45 days' worth of food in their stores.
The entire ship's company of 700 can be served a meal within 90 minutes – 45 minutes when at action stations.

British F-35Bs land on HMS Queen Elizabeth (Picture: MOD).

The history of British aircraft carriers

The Royal Navy has seen 16 different classes of aircraft carriers take to the sea since 1918, with between one and 10 ships commissioned for each class.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is both a new ship and a new class of aircraft carrier and was joined by her sister ship HMS Prince of Wales in 2019.

Before the two carriers, Britain relied on the Invincible class, which included HMS Invincible, HMS Illustrious, and HMS Ark Royal, commissioned respectively in 1980, 1982, and 1985.

Unlike the earlier carriers, these two most recent classes have used gas turbine engines to one degree or another.

Watch: Below decks on HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The engines of previous carriers were powered by boilers and geared turbines.

The first class of aircraft carrier was HMS Argus. It was laid down in 1914, and finally commissioned in 1918, and could carry 18 aircraft.

The Glorious class could carry 36 to 48 aircraft. Glorious, Courageous, and Furious, were commissioned between 1916 and 1917.

British carriers did not take on the modern look, with a control tower protruding above the flight deck, until HMS Eagle was commissioned as the only ship in her class in 1924.

Two squadrons of Lightning aircraft embarked on HMS Queen Elizabeth last year – the largest group of aircraft on a Royal Navy carrier since HMS Hermes was in service.