The huge new RN carrier and pending flag, HMS Queen Elizabeth, prepares to sail from Rosyth dockyard for the first time to begin sea trials after seven years of construction. The 65,000-ton carrier is the largest warship ever constructed for the Royal Navy.
HMS Queen Elizabeth, left, next to the stricken Harrier carrier HMS Illustrious while under construction. The Queen is more than three times Lusty’s size.
Meanwhile, the Ford-class supercarrier PCU John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) has reached 50 percent structural completion this week with her 70-foot long lower stern lifted into place at Newport News Shipbuilding using the company’s 1,050-metric ton gantry crane. The carrier is on track to be completed with 445 sectional lifts, 51 fewer than Ford and 149 less than USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), the last Nimitz-class carrier.
