HMS Queen Elizabeth: The Royal Navy's flagship carrier '“ in numbers

The warship headed across the Atlantic last month for historic flight tests.

65,000 - Weighing in at 65,000 tonnes, HMS Queen Elizabeth is the largest warship ever built for the Royal Navy.

17 million '“ Made up of more than 17 million parts, the 280m vessel is also one of the Senior Service's most complex.

10,000 '“ She has a four-acre flight deck and has a range of 10,000 nautical miles.

1,500 '“ The aircraft carrier will cram 1,500 people across her 17 decks, with a ship's company of about 800 - 70 more than when she left Rosyth in June last year.

24 '“ The average age of the crew is just 24, and almost a third have never been abroad before.

17 '“ Many of those on Queen Elizabeth are fresh from naval training, with some of the ship's crew as young as 17.

500 '“ She will spend 11 weeks at sea conducting flight trials of the F-35B, completing about 500 take-off and landing manoeuvres.

2 '“ These will be split into two phases, with the more basic operations taking first, broken up with a trip to New York and some downtime for the crew, before the second, more challenging tests take place. She is expected to return home in time for Christmas.