According to information published by the Royal Navy on March 9, 2022, the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth has sailed from Portsmouth for the first time since her global operational deployment to the Indo-Pacific and back.
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The aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (Picture source: Royal Navy)
The nation’s flagship has been alongside since December for essential maintenance following her seven-month mission, but now returns to sea to carry out vital training and exercises to keep her ready for operations.
The 65,000-tonne aircraft will return to Glen Mallen on the Clyde in Scotland for a routine logistics visit and also hopes to visit Liverpool on her return leg to Portsmouth at the end of the month.
During this short stint at sea, training will focus on individual, team and whole ship exercises as well as working with commando-carrying Merlin helicopters from RNAS Yeovilton-based 846 Naval Air Squadron.
The ship will be conducting further exercises and training later in the year as the carrier is kept at very high readiness to deploy anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice.
Capable of carrying 60 aircraft including fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and autonomous vehicles, she was commissioned on 7 December 2017 and entered service in 2020.
Defensive weapons include the Phalanx Close-In Weapons System for anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense and 30mm Automated Small Calibre Guns and Miniguns for use against fast attack craft.
The hangars are designed for CH-47 Chinook operations without blade folding and for the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor, whilst the aircraft lifts can accommodate two Chinooks with unfolded blades.
