Aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth wows crowd as it returns to Portsmouth
HMS Queen Elizabeth returned to Portsmouth today — drawing large crowds of excited onlookers.
The aircraft carrier, nicknamed Big Lizzie by sailors, has returned after four months at sea conducting fast jet flight trials.
Scores of people lined the Millennium Walkway by Gunwharf Quays.
Michael Dunkason, a photographer from the Isle of Wight, said: ‘I’m hoping to get a shot as the ship towers over Spice Island.
‘There was a great shot of the ship coming past Spice Island when it left Portsmouth.
‘I would have loved to have taken that shot.’
The Queen Elizabeth will remain in Portsmouth for 13 weeks as part of ‘a capability insertion period.’ This will see the ship take on equipment needed for its next trial — involving live missiles — early next year.