HMS Queen Elizabeth: Royal Navy's flagship aircraft carrier to return to Portsmouth ahead of 'operations this autumn'

The 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier is due to return to Portsmouth at around 8pm this evening (Tuesday 30 July), according to Navy Lookout. The page posted on X, formerly Twitter, that it will “pass the Round Tower approx 2000” but “will first carry out a sail past of the Isle of Wight, exchanging gun salutes with the Royal Yacht Squadron”.

HMS Queen Elizabeth returns to Portsmouth after four months of repairs in Scotland and a short spell at sea to test her systems. She left Rosyth Dockyard a week ago after arriving there in March for unscheduled work.

The Royal Navy 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 nation’s flagship will return home to Portsmouth to begin preparations for operations this autumn. Before heading into Portsmouth harbour, the aircraft carrier will carry out a sail past of the Isle of Wight, exchanging gun salutes with the Royal Yacht Squadron as the iconic Cowes Week regatta – for which HMS Tyne is guardship – continues in the Solent.”

Commanding Officer of HMS Queen Elizabeth, 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.”