Troubled HMS Prince of Wales pictured in dry dock ready for repairs

HMS Prince of Wales has been pictured out of the water in dry dock at Rosyth as the aircraft carrier awaits repairs to her damaged propeller shaft.

The £3.2bn warship is finally in position for the repair work after arriving on Tuesday afternoon, a day after the 65,000-tonne vessel arrived in the Firth of Forth.

The HMS Prince of Wales Twitter account posted a photo of the carrier in the dry dock ready for repairs at the port in Scotland, where she will be fixed after her starboard propeller malfunctioned off the Isle of Wight in August. 

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The tweet said: "The next step of our repair and return to operations commences now the dock is dry."

HMS Prince of Wales is Britain's newest aircraft carrier, yet it has had a rocky start. 

The flagship broke down shortly after leaving Portsmouth on a diplomatic maiden voyage to the United States. 

The carrier's sister ship, HMS Queen Elizabeth had to take her place. 

HMS Prince of Wales was taken back to Portsmouth for further examination – divers surveyed the damage to the aircraft carrier's starboard propellor and shaft – where it was decided she would go back to Rosyth where she was built. 

The propeller shaft is made up of a number of 'steel poles' joined together, with the engine on one end and the propeller on the other.

Each of the poles is joined together with a 'shaft coupling' which is where the fault has been identified.

It is understood it could be months before the ship is operational again, although the Navy has not confirmed this.