Her Majesty the Queen launched the UK’s biggest ever aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth at Rosyth shipyard, Scotland, today with a bottle of Scotland’s best Islay malt whisky instead of the more traditional bottle of champagne.
More than 3,000 people watched the naming of the 283-metre long carrier – which was approved and classed by Lloyd’s Register – with speeches from the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir George Zambellas, and the Aircraft Carrier Alliance Programme Director, Ian Booth, of BAe Systems.
HMS Queen Elizabeth, which is the first of two new carriers to be built in the UK, is due to go for sea trials in November, 2016, with delivery at the beginning of 2017. A second UK carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, which is currently under construction, is also being classed and approved by LR.
LR’s Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) Project Manager, Ian White, said: "This is the fulfilment of six years dedicated work by the LR team and a pivotal project for the UK. It is also the best way of recognising what the 14 to 15 Lloyd’s Register surveyors employed on building the aircraft carriers at six shipyards in the UK have achieved."