On
July 4, 2014, as the Red Arrows, the RAF acrobatic flying team, and a
squadron of military helicopters flew over the Rosyth dockyards in
Scotland, Queen Elizabeth II christened the HMS Queen Elizabeth. The
Duke
of Edinburgh(Lord High Admiral since 2011), Admiral George
Zambellas(First
Sea Lord),
David
Cameron and Gordon
Brown(the current
and former Prime Ministers respectfully), Alex
Salmond(First
Minister of Scotland)
and senior naval officers from the United States and France joined
Queen Elizabeth II for the festivities. During the ceremony the Queen
broke a bottle of whiskey, instead of champagne, over the bow of the
aircraft carrier and named it after Queen Elizabeth I, the 16th
century monarch and daughter of King Henry VIII.
"May
God bless her and all who sail in her,"
Queen Elizabeth said. She then added, "In
sponsoring this new aircraft carrier, I believe the Queen Elizabeth
will be a source of inspiration and pride for us all."
The
920 foot-long aircraft carrier is the first of the Queen Elizabeth
class. When it is ready for service in 2020 she will be the home of
up to 1,600 military personal. The enormous vessel will alse have a
capacity of 40 aircraft including the Lockheed-Martin
F35 Lightning II fighter, the AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin
helicopter, Boeing's Chinook
helicopter and the AgustaWestland Apache
helicopter. It will be armed with a radar-guided 20mm(0.79in.)
Gatling gun on a swivel base known as the Phalanx CIWS (close in
weapon system) and a compliment of 30mm guns and mini-guns. The
behemoth will be powered by two
Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbines and four diesel generators that will
give the HMS Queen Elizabeth a top speed of 25 knots (28.8mph).
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