Posted on 12/07/2017 7:46:38 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
It was more than 70 years ago, in the closing months of the war in Europe, that Princess Elizabeth launched her first warship at the age of 18.
Then it was the mighty battleship Vanguard, the last of its kind to serve in the Royal Navy.
And yesterday, aged 91, the Queen commissioned Britain’s biggest ever warship, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, into the Royal Navy.
In a moving speech to the crew while stood in the hangar of the 65,000 ton aircraft carrier at Portsmouth naval base, she said it embodied the ‘best of British’.
The Queen said: ‘The most powerful and capable ship ever to raise the White Ensign, she will in the years and decades ahead represent the country’s resolve on the global stage.’
Dressed in all purple, the Queen said the new £3.1billion vessel ‘embodies the best of British technology and innovation, a true flagship for the 21st century’.
She praised the service personnel who will crew the carrier, saying: ‘As the daughter, wife and mother of naval officers, I recognise the unique demands our nation asks of you and I will always value my special link with HMS Queen Elizabeth, her ship’s company and their families.’
In November 1944, as Princess Elizabeth, she launched the 44,500 ton HMS Vanguard at Clydebank, near Glasgow. She visited the ship again in 1946, and it carried her to South Africa in 1947 on a royal tour with her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and sister, Princess Margaret.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5157639/Queen-declares-HMS-Queen-Elizabeth-ready-duty.html#ixzz50dbGiAUo Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The Queen (pictured walking with the ship's commanding officer, Captain Jerry Kyd) today said the huge vessel is a 'true flagship for the 21st century
The £3billion and 65,000-tone HMS Queen Elizabeth was photographed in Portsmouth on the day of her commissioning ceremony this morning
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5157639/Queen-declares-HMS-Queen-Elizabeth-ready-duty.html#ixzz50dbgelYG Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
I just hope these new Carries are put to better use.
It was said here on Free Republic that we need more ships. Not better ones.
I worry that they should have built 4 smaller yet still very capable ships for the price of these two.
We are doing the same thing with Gerald Ford Class.
God bless Her, and all who sail in her.
Big ship! Best wishes to all the crew.
Is it nuclear powered?
Is that Princess Ann behind the Queen? How did she become a naval officer?
Now, that small detail of getting a few aircraft to use on her.
I bet a single A-wing fighter could take out the bridge section.
Yes, that Princess Anne. Her rank in the Royal Navy is honorary.
One might say she was born to it.
Honorary military appointment of Admiral and Chief Commandant for Women in the Royal Navy.
Princess Anne holds several honorary military appointments in the forces of the UK and the Commonwealth, including as Admiral and Chief Commandant for Women in the Royal Navy, and Commodore-in-Chief of HMNB Portsmouth. I would guess without any gret study of the uniform that it is probably the second of these appointments she would have been exercising, if that is in fact her in the picture.
That’s an Admiral’s uniform HRH is wearing.
I worry that they should have built 4 smaller yet still very capable ships for the price of these two.
We sure do need more ships but none of the Services have enough personnel to man them.
Being a Queen is a full time job, the way Elizabeth does it.
Very impressive at 91 years of age, any age, actually.
It helps to be to the manner born, so that adhering to public perception becomes an easy reflex.
It's powered by gas and diesel.
I notice that there is no angled deck (British invention, IIRC). Makes sense if the A/C on board are Helos and F35Bs (vertical TO and landing).
Best wishes for safe voyages and successful missions.
Is that HMS Victory to the right of the clock?
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