HMS Queen Elizabeth: All of the maintenance work carried out on Royal Navy aircraft carrier while she was in Rosyth

The Royal Navy’s 65,000 tonne future fleet flagship returned to her birthplace in Scotland after sailing out of our city at the start of April. 

She has spent weeks undergoing routine planned maintenance at the dry dock in Rosyth, where she was assembled. 

During her time at the Scottish dockyard, HMS Queen Elizabeth was reunited with her sister ship HMS Prince of Wales – which is due to arrive in Portsmouth later this year. 

Why was the aircraft carrier in Scotland? 

The multi-billion pound future flagship of the Royal Navy returned to Rosyth for routine maintenance following the flight tests carried out in America last year. 

Here is all the work that was carried out on HMS Queen Elizabeth during her time in the dry dock: 

- 284 hull valves were changed

- both rudder blades were removed and cleaned

- her sea inlet pipes were inspected

- all sacrificial anodes were replaced

- a renewed coat of anti-foul paint was applied to the ship’s bottom

- The huge port and starboard anchors and cables were also laid out along the length of dock to allow them to be inspected

But HMS Queen Elizabeth is now back in the water and has begun her voyage back to her home in Portsmouth. 

The docking period was a mandatory requirement and its successful completion means HMS Queen Elizabeth should not need to dock down again for another six years.

Head of Marine Engineering onboard, Cdr Mark Hamilton said: ‘It’s the first time that such a short docking period has taken place with a Royal Navy ship of this size.

‘It’s real testament to the great working relationship forged between the MoD and industry to make this such a success.

‘We’ll now carry the concept forwards to future docking periods, as well as to those of our sister ship HMS Prince of Wales.’

The maintenance was completed on time after the ship entered dry dock ahead of schedule, despite an initial delay to entering the basin because of bad weather.

After a phased exit from Rosyth, into the Firth of Forth before passing once again under the Forth Bridges, the ship will conduct a period of sea trials and training in preparation for her deployment to the east coast of the USA later this year.

‘WESTLANT 19’ will include ‘operational testing’ with UK F-35B Lightning II fighter jets, following on from last’s year’s ‘developmental tests’ with US trials jets.