Carrier Cricket: HMS Queen Elizabeth's Flight Deck Hosts Nets Practice

Personnel have used HMS Queen Elizabeth's flight deck to brush up on their cricketing skills with a session in the nets.

The aircraft carrier is the largest and most powerful ship ever built for the Royal Navy and can carry up to 72 aircraft – including F-35B fighter jets.

The vessel's flight deck is 280m long and 70m wide, which is enough space for three football pitches – or indeed, a wicket.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is currently leading her maiden deployment, Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG 21).

Ahead of the deployment, the Queen was welcomed on board the Royal Navy flagship before the carrier headed to the Indo-Pacific region.

The carrier departed Portsmouth Naval Base for CSG 21 last month and has taken part in Exercise Steadfast Defender, NATO's largest exercise of the year.

The ship was also visited by NATO's Secretary General while on the exercise, which saw personnel deployed from North America to the Black Sea and off the coast of Portugal.

"The first aircraft carrier in the world designed to operate fifth-generation combat aircraft – from these decks, [HMS] Queen Elizabeth projects power to keep us all safe," Mr Stoltenburg said during the visit.

Cover image: Personnel playing cricket on HMS Queen Elizabeth's flight deck (Picture: Royal Navy Cricket Twitter).