The largest hull section of a new aircraft carrier has embarked on a journey from its Clyde construction site to the assembly point at Fife.

HMS Queen Elizabeth left BAE's shipbuilding hall at Govan three weeks ago and was loaded on to a barge, but bad weather had held up the journey.

It is now on its way and is expected to take between seven and nine days to reach the Rosyth dockyard.

The carrier will be the Royal Navy's largest ever warship, but won’t be finished until 2016 at the earliest, with its deployment into active service expected for 2020.

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The Govan shipyard is one of six shipyards around the UK involved in building various parts of the ship.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said: "Our next generation of aircraft carriers is on track with HMS Queen Elizabeth due to begin sea trials in 2017, and flight trials from her deck using our Lightning II fast jets in 2018.

"We are regenerating our carrier strike capability with the largest aircraft carriers Britain has ever had and fifth-generation stealth jets.

"Scotland has a world class shipbuilding industry that has benefited to the tune of around £1.3bn from the Queen Elizabeth Class carriers. More than 2,000 people work on the carriers at Rosyth, with a further 2,000 on the Clyde."

It is thought the Royal Navy will be without aircraft carriers between 2014 and 2016, when the HMS Illustrious will be out of service and the HMS Queen Elizabeth ready to be completed.

(IT)