The construction of the HMS Queen Elizabeth made further progress on Sunday, as a 11,000 tone section of the new aircraft carrier was moved in preparation to leave the Clyde construction yard.

The ship’s largest hull section was moved out of BAE’s shipbuilding hall in Govan in an operation that took two and a half hours to complete.

On Tuesday it will be loaded onto a barge and will begin its 600-mile journey to the Rosyth dockyard in Fife, where it will then be joined onto the other carrier sections.

The massive aft section of hull is over 80m long and 40m wide and is home to two engine rooms, a hospital complex, dentist, galley and accommodation including 242 berths.

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Once the assembly is completed, HMS Queen Elizabeth will be a 280m long carrier which will be able to deploy as many as 40 Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft.

Angus Holt, Queen Elizabeth Class block delivery director at BAE Systems, said: "Today marks the culmination of months of hard work and preparation and I am extremely proud of the team's achievements in successfully loading out the aft section on time and built to an exceptional standard.

"The sheer size and complexity of the block both highlights the skill of workforce here on the Clyde and the huge amount of progress which we continue to make on the programme to deliver the nation's flagships."

HMS Queen Elizabeth is one of two aircraft carriers ordered by the Ministry of Defence and delivered by BAE Systems, Thales UK and Babcock. This project is one of the largest in the defence orders in the UK, costing around £5bn.

The project will be finished in 2016 at the earliest, with the ships possibly not being ready until 2020.

(IT)