meet the hms queen elizabeth the royal navy's f-35 aircraft hms queen elizabeth is one powerful
aircraft carrier britain once ruled the waves and the royal navy was once the largest naval force in
the world in addition to being at the forefront of battleship design during the first world war
the royal navy developed the first true aircraft carrier with an unobstructed flight deck that was
then today the royal navy has a fleet of around 70 vessels including 13 frigates and six destroyers
but as part of the global britain initiative the fleet now includes two aircraft carriers it marked
a significant turn for the senior service of the uk which had seen the deakin line positioning hms
arc royal in 2011. last year hms queen elizabeth the largest carrier in service with the royal
navy at 280 meters and length is three times as large as arc royal completed her maiden voyage
which lasted nearly seven months and saw her head through the suez canal to the far east and back
during that lengthy deployment she was joined by eight other warships and some 32 aircraft
with 3 700 personnel it was the largest royal navy flotilla to depart the uk in decades
the royal navy's flagship the lead ship of the new queen elizabeth class of aircraft carriers
big lizzie as she is fondly known to her crew is named in honor of the first hms queen elizabeth
a world war ii euro super dreadnought which in turn was named after queen elizabeth i
like her namesake she has a tudor rose adorned crest and the motto semper edem always the same
ordered in may 2008 the ship was laid down in 2009 and began her seat trials in 2017.
she entered service in 2020 at a reported cost of ps 3.2 billion the 65 000 ton super
carrier is also the most expensive warship ever constructed for the royal navy the carrier's crew
consists of around 700 officers and sailors but including airway the number increases to 1600
unlike u.s navy nuclear-powered aircraft carriers she's a conventionally parked warship her four
ward zilla diesel generators are each capable of producing a total of 11 megawatts of power
or enough to sustain a town with a population of 25 000 people she had a top speed of 25 knots
capable worship another notable difference from the us carriers which feature catapults
is the fact the hms queen elizabeth utilizes a ski jump style flight deck the carrier's
planned air wing typically consists of 24 to 36 f-35b lighting roman two joint strike fighters
the short takeoff and vertical landing stavo variant lockheed martin-produced
fifth generation stealth fire and 14 helicopters the carrier is able to launch 24 of the vertical
take off slash landing vtol aircraft in 5 minutes and has a maximum recovery rate of 24
aircraft in as many minutes in surge capacity the carrier can carry in excess of 65 aircraft during
her recent maiden deployment the carrier embarked at 35 bs from the royal air force 617 squadron
the dambusters and the united states marine fighter attack squadron
vmfa 211 wake island avengers in june 2021 those aircraft conducted combat operations
in support of the uk anti-asis effort operation shader and the u.s operation inherent resolve
in the middle east it marked the first time the u.s fighters took part in a combat mission
from a royal navy aircraft carrier since 1943 when u.s pilots operated aboard hms victorious
r-38 during the second world war in addition to carrying what has been described as the
most dominant fifth generation jet fighter in service today the carrier's air wing is also
composed of nine anti-submarine merlin hem two medium lift naval helicopters along with four
or five merlin choppers for airborne early warning missions for land operations the carrier can also
carry a mix of other helicopters including the ch-47 chinook ah-64 apache merlin hc4
and wildcat hampton in addition to the air wing hms queen elizabeth's armament consists
of three phalanx suits close in weapon systems four 30 millimeters ds-30m mk2 guns and six
miniguns the carrier is equipped with in some thousand eight hundred fifty m long range radar
type 997 artisan 3d medium range radar an ultra electronic series 2500 electro optical system eos
while britain may no longer rule the waves the royal navy's flagship will serve as an
important symbol of global britain and has a powerful deterrent to the uk adversaries
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