UK’s new flagship aircraft carrier arrives at home port

FILE: Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (Photo: Sodacan/ Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0)

LONDON — Britain’s new flagship aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth has arrived at its home port in southern England to great fanfare.

Crowds lined the harbour on Wednesday to welcome the ship to Portsmouth Naval Base, where the 919-foot (280-meter) vessel will be based for its estimated 50-year lifespan.

The 3 billion-pound ($3.87 billion) ship has been at sea undergoing tests and training since June, when it left a dockyard in Scotland.

Also in June, Britain’s defence secretary said that Russia would look at the new carrier with envy, pointing at Russia’s “dilapidated” Admiral Kuznetsov carrier. Russia’s defence ministry spokesman fired back, dismissing the British carrier as just a “conveniently large sea target” that should stay close to U.S. protection assets.