Royal Navy's huge aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth honours Queen's coronation with a salvo from deadly Phalanx guns

Aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth used one of her three formidable Phalanx close-in weapon system to mark the 67th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation.

In a video shared on the £3.1bn warship’s official Twitter showed the vessel unleashing a one second blast of the gun, which can spew 4,500 rounds a minute at aerial threats.

In a tweet, the ship said it wanted to honour its ‘lady sponsor’, adding: ‘Normally we would “Dress Ship” to mark the occasion. Today, as we are at sea, and conducting gunnery, we give an alternative gun salute in lieu.’

The 65,000-tonne warship boasts three Phalanx computer-controlled guns, which can empty a 1,550-round magazine in 20.7 seconds – at about 75 rounds a second.

The state-of-the-art tech is used to identify and confirm incoming dangers before firing a stream of shells capable of annihilating targets at a range of 2.2 miles.

Affectionately nicknamed ‘R2-D2’ because of its distinctive shape, the radar-controlled weapons platform is said to provide a ‘last chance’ defence for ships against anti-ship missiles and aircraft.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is completing her final phase at sea before returning to Portsmouth later this week for a brief resupply visit.

The warship is due to take on her first operational deployment next year, which will see her travelling to the Mediterranean, Gulf and Far East.

The Queen succeeded to the throne on February 6, 1952 on the death of her father, King George VI.

She was in Kenya at the time and became the first sovereign in more than 200 years to accede while abroad.

She was officially crowned during a ceremony at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953.

The coronation was the first time the ceremony was ever broadcast live and was watched by 27 million people in the UK.

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this story on portsmouth.co.uk. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to portsmouth.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit our Subscription page now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.