These pictures show the largest Royal Navy ship ever built sailing past Wales. The HMS Queen Elizabeth was in the waters off Anglesey on Thursday, when it had a sea rendezvous with aircraft from RAF Valley.
The £3.1 billion aircraft carrier was built alongside the HMS Prince of Wales in a project costing more than £6 billion, and they are the Royal Navy's first aircraft carriers to be built since HMS Ark Royal was scrapped in 2010. The ship weighs 65,000 tonnes and has a flight deck four acres long, which is enough space for nearly three football pitches. It's expected to be in service for the next 50 years after becoming fully operational in 2021, North Wales Live reports.
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In a post shared on the RAF Valley Facebook page with images credited to Corporal Roberts, the team said: "Those of you on Anglesey with a good vantage point might have witnessed the spectacle of HMS Queen Elizabeth plying the waters off Anglesey today as she headed north through the Irish Sea on her way to Scotland.
"Texan aircraft from 72(F) were on hand to give a warm reception to the largest Royal Navy ship ever built - and currently home to a large number of RAF and Navy aviators. Given that all our trainee fast jet pilots from both Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, who will one day fly the state of the art F-35 Lightning aircraft jointly made by BAE and Lockheed, then getting early experience of approaching the carrier at sea represents an excellent opportunity to practise."
HMS Queen Elizabeth is 280 metres long and 70 metres wide, capable of carrying up to 40 aircraft and its home port is Portsmouth.
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