Another Milestone For Royal Navy's Aircraft Carriers

Another busy day at the Rosyth dockyard marks yet another milestone for the Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier project.

The Firth of Forth port plays an important role as the home for HMS Prince Of Wales, Britain's second aircraft carrier and sister ship to HMS Queen Elizabeth.

And now, the aft island section has been successfuly lifted into place.

A busy day in the dockyard, our sistership is getting bigger #princeofwales#bestofbritish#POTDpic.twitter.com/P2Z6qBXAEb

— HMS Queen Elizabeth (@HMSQnlz) January 8, 2016

The large, angular shaped island weighs in at an impressive 750 tonnes, and controls all operations aboard the ship.

More: Understated Wheel Will Steer HMS Queen Elizabeth

QEC project director Iain Stevenson said: “This is a proud day for our employees throughout the UK. To see the final section delivered ahead of schedule and to an incredible standard of engineering is testament to the dedication, skill and ingenuity of all those working on the programme."

"There’s more hard work to be done, but there’s also an incredible momentum behind the programme, as mission systems are tested on HMS Queen Elizabeth and assembly continues for HMS Prince of Wales.” 

Impressive time-lapse of a HMS Queen Elizabeth's Aft island being moved out:

HMS Queen Elizabeth is lined up to begin sea trials in August and to be commissioned in May 2017. Construction of the 300m-long HMS Prince of Wales is scheduled for completion in July, with sea trials set to begin in January 2019, followed by acceptance in August of the same year.