Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales set to sail from Portsmouth tomorrow

The 65,000-tonne warship arrived in Portsmouth at the end of last in November and was commissioned into the navy in December during a ceremony attended by Prince Charles.

She is due to leave Portsmouth Naval Base between 8.20am and 9.10am. It will be the first time she has departed as a Royal Navy-flagged warship.

The news comes after a previous window for her to leave, last week, was cancelled. The navy will confirm times on its social media accounts.

The £3.1bn supercarrier is due to tackle her next phase of sea tests ahead of her first trials with the F-35 stealth jet.

Naval engineers will put the behemoth through her paces at sea, testing everything from her propulsion, to sophisticated weapons systems.

Prince of Wales will stop at Liverpool for a week-long visit, arriving on the River Mersey on Friday, February 28.

The warship will become the first of the navy’s two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers to open up to the public.

Speaking ahead of the trip to sea, Captain Darren Houston, Prince of Wales’s commanding officer, said: ‘My ship’s company and I are hugely excited about our first visit to Liverpool.

‘This is an opportunity for us to cement our bond with the city as one of the newest warships in the Royal Navy’s fleet.

‘We’re looking forward to hosting people from the local community on board during our time alongside, and I know we will receive the warmest of welcomes.’

Excitement is already building ahead of the historic trip to Liverpool.

Councillor Wendy Simon, the city’s deputy mayor and tourism boss, said it was a ‘huge coup’ for the city.

Prince of Wales is the largest warship ever built for the navy, being slightly heavier than her sister ship, HMS Queen Elizabeth.

She has a lifespan of 50 years, a crew of more than 700 and can travel 500 miles a day.

Queen Elizabeth returned to Portsmouth on Friday after spending three weeks in the North Sea testing the F-35.