HMS Queen Elizabeth has arrived in New York this afternoon, marking the start of an historic visit to the US city.
The largest ship in the history of the Royal Navy has anchored in New York Harbour under the gaze of the Statue of Liberty today.
Welcoming the aircraft carrier into New York, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said:
“HMS Queen Elizabeth is not just a warship, but a symbol of our enduring commitment to our security, and the security of our allies too.
This state-of-the-art ship is built on more than 470 years of proud Royal Navy history and her entry into New York harbour shows that our Armed Forces are ready to stand by our allies for generations to come.”
Captain Jerry Kyd, Commanding Officer of HMS Queen Elizabeth added:
“I am delighted and proud to be bringing HMS Queen Elizabeth into New York harbour for the first time. This visit is very symbolic of the intimate relationship the Royal Navy has with the US Navy and Marine Corps and comes at the mid-way point in the F-35B fixed wing flight trials.
We have over 170 embarked US staff at the moment onboard in support of the flight trials, including a USMC test pilot and we are all extremely pleased with our progress so far.”
The warship, which has been undertaking F-35B flight trials while at sea off the coast of the US, is set to remain in New York for about a week before she returns to the North Atlantic to continue testing the supersonic stealth fighter jets.
Now there’s a photo!
Excellent
Agreed. New York provides a stunning backdrop to any ship and it’s fantastic to see a Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier there again.
I hope the sailors make it back on board this time.
There’s going to be a lot of American girls vying for a British sailors attention tonight
Last time I was there bring British was a “cheat code” to American women
New Yorkers love a British accent.
They all ask if you know the royal family.
Hope the ratings all have a good one.
Watch for the headlines tomorrow lol.
Solemnly symbolic: Twin Towers overlooking Lower Manhatten.
Deep.
I have just taken the Staten Island Ferry to get some great shots. We went within 200m of the ship and I got some great footage. There was even a huge German container ship fully loaded that dwarfed Big Lizzie. I also met some Merlin crew earlier since they landed at the downtown heliport – presumably to take a VIP back to the ship and I welcomed them to NY. She is certainly an impressive sight but its a shame she couldn’t birth at one of the piers in Manhattan. Interestingly I noticed she is berthed at a very low… Read more »
Great descriptions, many thanks for the insights, would certainly love to see the pics.
Thanks Julian 1! What a great photo. I foresee a grand weekend in Merry Old New York… 😀
Cheers!
i WISH i WAS STILL THERE IN THE MOB, LIKE MOST, I’D GO BACK TOMORROW.
One or two romances may begin in the next week or so, in the spirit on Anglo-American relations.
Great photo. I’m very eager for progress in fitting out the QE as even though she’s VERY lightly armed when fully equipped as planned, she still has zero Phalanx CIWS, zero Bushmaster anti-fast boat guns & zero miniguns. early days, I know, but enemies don’t always send 3 months notice before attacking. A short/medium range SAM should be added at least, such as Sea ceptor or RAM. Any resourceful terrorist or minor state could keep the single T23 escort busy with a few fast attack boats while the rest go for a virtually unprotected QE.
OK it does make a good photo opportunity i admit
But should she not do a tour of some of the ports around the UK
After all it was our money that paid for her so why let foreigners see her who have no idea that out side of the US there are other countries beside the US as julian1 illustrated
I have a pic of the upperpart of Devonport with 4 carriers yes 4 plus numerous cruisers and detroyers and what a sight that was (thats when we had a navy)
This isn’t a tour/showing the flag event or Beano, but a few days off for the hard worked crew during essential working up trials. All the gear & specialised F35s equipped to calibrate initial F35 take off, landing & operating trials are there where the F35s are produced. They’ve been working in a specialised area off the US east coast for this purpose. We don’t have it in the UK. With our small numbers c.f. the US home of these aircraft it makes perfect sense for this work to be done there.
I do know what is happening and i realise its not a tour
As an ex-seaman i know the value of shoretime believe me
But you got the jist of my meaning all wrong
It’s British taxpayers the government needs to win over on this project, not American taxpayers. From leaving Rosyth in the dead of night to creeping into Portsmouth at the crack of dawn, to embargoing for days and the releasing late on a Friday night the news of fixed wing trials, the MoD and RN handling of this has been ignorant, unimaginative and frankly farcical. Why has’t she visited London yet? Or even just parked just outside Portsmoth for a week? We saw more of the US carrier recently than we have of the one we paid for. And no, the… Read more »
I agree with you but you said London and why not park it outside Portsmouth Pompy people see it everytime she comes into port Its allways in the local newspaper What im saying is tour around the places that she could berth and if she cant get alongside anchor outside so the locals can come and see her Falmouth springs to mind and so does Milford Haven and thats just two places She could anchor in the Clyde She could anchor in Belfast Louge A tour of UK places would go alongway to help placate people far removed from and… Read more »
Spot on. Socialise get a true sense of shared ownership… Might also help with recruitment
maybe try to squeeze her into lowestoft
That would end very badly Andy! The harbour is neither deep enough or wide enough. The last ship built here, a Caledonian McBrayne ferry, only just got through the bridge with inches to spare & she was only small.
Clearly I was referring to Portsmouth as the bare minimum, making the point that people living there have had more sight of a US flat top than of ours.
But we are in agreement.
Well said
This is so sensible I wonder just WHY the MoD do not do it.
Are we really that ashamed of ourselves and our military in this supposed great country of ours.
The Queen Elizabeth will have many years in the future to visit British ports. That obviously isn’t the current priority. Next year we will have Prince of Wales as well. Plenty of photos ops there.
They are fitting in visits around the trials which is a good use of tax payers money. Agree though that something pretty drastic needs to be done to tackle sea blindness in general. Visiting home and overseas ports are equally important. Keep up the great work, all on board.
An iconic photo, H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth and New York City’s skyscrapers as a backdrop.
Agree about the U.K. tour too.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6295469/UKs-largest-aircraft-carrier-arrives-New-York-City-flight-trials.html
Cheers1
Don’t forget that the QE was in the US for trials with the F-35. Why not let New Yorkers and others see this marvelous ship for a couple of days, and let the crew have some fun. A lot of people will see this and think, “oh, yeah, the Brits have a real navy too, and we’re allies.”