Britain’s ‘cursed’ £3.5billion aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is finally returning home after a major series of repairs left her out of action for months.
The 65,000-tonne behemoth – the largest and most powerful vessel ever built for the Royal Navy – is due to arrive back in her home city of Portsmouth today.
It comes after the bedevilled warship was forced to spend months in dry dock following a fault with her propeller shaft.
The issue, spotted in March, was similar to the defect that went on to cripple Queen Elizabeth’s younger sister, HMS Prince of Wales, leaving that ship out of action for almost a year and the Senior Service with a multi-million pound repair bill.
While the Queen Elizabeth was docked at Glenmallan, by Loch Long in Scotland, a fire broke out inside the 932ft-long leviathan which ‘ripped through’ the carrier and destroyed 100 beds, leaving 10 sailors in need of medical treatment.
HMS Queen Elizabeth (pictured) is due to arrive back in Portsmouth, Hampshire, later this evening (file image)
Aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (pictured front) is the sister ship of HMS Prince of Wales (pictured rear) – with both the vessels based in Portsmouth
The vessel – the pride of the Royal Navy and flagship of the fleet – departed the dock earlier this month after work to fix the fire damage and repair her propeller was completed.
Her return to sea will come as a welcome relief to naval top brass, amid heightened tensions with Russia and China – and fighting continuing to rage in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas.
She is expected to arrive at Portsmouth Naval Base, in Hampshire, later this afternoon, having spent seven days at sea already.
A Royal Navy spokesman said: ‘The ship emerged sooner than initially forecast from repairs and, after sailing under the Forth Bridges, has spent the last seven days at sea being put through her paces on trials to test her systems to the maximum.
‘This has included marine engineering trials, sailing at high speed for extended periods of time and manoeuvring as aggressively as possible to give the command team full confidence in her systems following the docking period.’
The ship’s commanding officer Captain Will King said: ‘Whilst no warship wants to find itself spending unscheduled time out of the water, I am enormously proud of the work that has gone on in Rosyth.
‘Everybody on board is looking forward to getting back to sea, where we belong, and picking up a busy programme in the autumn.’
The vessel has spent several months in Scotland undergoing repairs to her propeller, as well as to her mess deck following a fire in March (she is pictured passing under the Forth Bridge on July 22 on her way home)
HMS Queen Elizabeth – nicknamed affectionately by some as ‘Big Lizzie’ – had been due to take part in Steadfast Defender, Nato’s largest military drill since the Cold War, when a fault with her starboard propeller coupling was found before she set sail.
At short notice, its sister aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales, which itself suffered a propeller shaft problem in August 2022, was called in to form the heart of a carrier strike group in the exercise, with helicopters and F-35 fighter jets on board.
Shortly after arriving in Scotland for repairs, Queen Elizabeth suffered another embarrassing set back when a fire broke out while she was docked at Glenmallan, on the shores of Loch Long in Scotland.
No fatalities were reported after the Scottish Fire Service were called out, with the damage to the ship thought to have been minor.
However, it was later revealed that 10 sailors needed treatment after the blaze went through mess decks and crew sleeping areas.
It is understood the fire ignited in an air conditioning unit on the aircraft carrier shortly after 11pm.
A source told The Sun: ‘The order came to clear lower decks after the fire broke out and everyone mustered in the hangar for a headcount.
‘Some sailors were drunk as they were off-duty and it was Friday night.
‘Those that were fit enough were given jobs to help with the fire. Sprinkler systems eventually extinguished it.’
A Royal Navy spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘A minor, isolated fire on HMS Queen Elizabeth was quickly brought under control and extinguished.’
Together, the Queen Elizabeth and her sister ship HMS Prince of Wales have cost more than £6billion and have already drained the Royal Navy’s funds to build other warships.
They are the largest and most expensive British warships ever made.
Their flight decks are larger than three football pitches and they can embark scores of stealth fighter jets and helicopters.
HMS Queen Elizabeth is expected to return to operations in the autumn, ahead of a major overseas deployment of the navy’s carrier strike group next year.
