HMS Queen Elizabeth will sail from Portsmouth today, Royal Navy confirms

HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to sail from Portsmouth later today, the Royal Navy has confirmed.

By The Newsroom

Published 2nd Feb 2018, 09:07 BST

Updated 2nd Feb 2018, 09:12 BST

HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to depart from Portsmouth today.

In a tweet on the Portsmouth Naval Base Twitter page the navy said the 65,000-tonne carrier is due to set sail at 12.40pm today.

She is leaving the city for more sea trials, including landing jets on the flight deck.

Yesterday The News reported how mariners had been warned there was a departure window for HMS Queen Elizabeth to leave today.

This morning the naval base tweeted: ‘Want to see the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier @HMSQnlz? She is due to sail today from Portsmouth Naval Base at 1240 for her rotary wing trials #hmsqnlzatsea.’

On Sunday it’s understood the firefighting system was accidentally triggered, causing large jets of water to cascade into the 65,000-tonne warship’s hangar.

Engineers have been working to rectify the issue, which the navy insisted would have no impact on plans to continue the behemoth’s next phase of trials at sea.