HMS Queen Elizabeth By The Numbers

Last week, the Queen officially welcomed the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier into the fleet during a ceremony in Portsmouth. The White Ensign was raised for the first time onboard her namesake vessel over three years after its official naming ceremony in Rosyth. HMS Queen Elizabeth and her sister ship HMS Prince of Wales are the largest and most powerful ships in British naval history and the numbers behind them are certainly impressive.

920 feet long and 240 feet wide, HMS Queen Elizabeth cost £3.1 billion to build. When it is operational, it will typically carry 24 state of the art F-35 fighter jets, along with 9 Merlin anti-submarine helicopters and 5 Merlin Crowsnest early warning helicopters. Depending on the ship's mission, this can also be changed to accommodate Royal Navy Commando Helicopter Force aircraft, Wildcats, RAF Chinooks or Army Air Corps Apache attack helicopters.

Given the sheer size of the carrier, 40 chefs will have their hands full feeding the ship's 679 crew members. 1,000 loaves of bread will be freshly baked every day. 12,000 tins of bakes beans will be carried onboard during every deployment, along with 28,800 rashers. 66,000 sausages will also be carried and that would stretch more then four miles.