LONDON (AP) — Britain’s new flagship aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth has arrived at its home port in southern England to great fanfare.
Crowds lined the harbor on Wednesday to welcome the ship to Portsmouth Naval Base, where the 919-foot (280-meter) vessel will be based for its estimated 50-year lifespan.
The 3 billion-pound ($3.87 billion) ship has been at sea undergoing tests and training since June, when it left a dockyard in Scotland.
Also in June, Britain’s defense secretary said that Russia would look at the new carrier with envy, pointing at Russia’s “dilapidated” Admiral Kuznetsov carrier. Russia’s defense ministry spokesman fired back, dismissing the British carrier as just a “conveniently large sea target” that should stay close to U.S. protection assets.
