Royal Navy: HMS Queen Elizabeth has Portsmouth departure for Rosyth delayed - when she will leave

HMS Queen Elizabeth was due to leave Portsmouth at 1pm this afternoon and head for Rosyth in Scotland. Those plans have now changed at the last minute, with KHM shipping movements reporting that the 65,000 tonne warship is now due to set sail at 11am tomorrow morning (March 5).

The Royal Navy flagship is returning to where she was built to fix a propeller shaft coupling fault. Her crew were preparing to lead the UK Carrier Strike Group (CSG) at the beginning of February for exercises in the North Sea. She would have joined Exercise Steadfast Defender - Nato's largest deployment since The Cold War - but mechanical issues were found in pre-sailing checks.

HMS Queen Elizabeth's sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, replaced her on the operations and has recently been carrying out training regimes with international ships on Exercise Joint Warrior. The Royal Navy launched an investigation and found that "wear and tear" caused the mechanical issue.

The Earl of Minto, Conservative member of the House of Lords, previously said in response to a written question that the aircraft carrier is returning to her home port "to find out exactly what is wrong." This last minute change has coincided with high winds and heavy rain being forecast by The Met Office.