HMS Queen Elizabeth: Royal Navy carrier returns to Portsmouth in early hours following Whitby exercises

The UK flagship sailed back to Portsmouth Naval Base in the early hours. According to the King’s Harbour Master shipping movements, the aircraft carrier – weighing 65,000 tonnes – arrived at 1.40am this morning.

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She has previously been in Whitby, North Yorkshire, conducting intense training exercises ahead of a future deployment in the Autumn of this year. Sailors joined crews from RFA Tideforce to conduct replenishing at sea trials – putting crews through their paces.

Routine tasks like this at sea allow for operations to be sustained for longer and avoids the need to head into port to refuel. Replenishment exercises were conducted on both the portside and starboard side of the vessel.

Night time flying had been planned for helicopters between the two ships, but these were cancelled due to strong winds. HMS Queen Elizabeth left Portsmouth on July 10 for the training exercises.