'I name this ship... after myself': Queen uses bottle of WHISKY to officially name giant 65,000-tonne vessel that is the Royal Navy's great white hope

The Queen, using  a bottle of whisky, has ushered in a new era of British naval power by naming the Royal Navy's biggest ever ship after herself.

In a ceremony at Rosyth Dockyard in Fife,the Queen gave the signal for a bottle to be smashed against the hull of the 65,000-tonne vessel, confirming its title as HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The monarch, wearing pale blue, spoke of her pride at being associated with the Royal Navy, and called the huge ship a 'magnificent achievement'.

In the run-up to the Queen's action the red arrows made a dramatic flypast in front of dignitaries including the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prime Minister.

Royal attendance: The Queen today spoke of her pride at sponsoring the naming of HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Navy's largest-ever ship

Historic: It is more usual to name ships using a bottle of champagne, but there is a precedent for using whisky instead for ships with strong Scottish links

Smash! The bottle of Islay malt whisky, chosen as a nod to HMS Queen Elizabeth's Scottish connections, was knocked against the vessel's hull with a metal crane

Arrival: The Queen was shown the colossal ship by senior naval officers, and viewed it alongside her husband Prince Philip (left)

Drama: The Red Arrows made a flypass ahead of the naming at Roysth Dockyard in Fife, where the ship's name was confirmed by smashing a bottle of whisky against the hull

Naming: The Queen pressed a button to release the bottle of whisky, formally naming the ship HMS Queen Elizabeth

Ceremony: Whisky is an unusual choice for the drink to break on the ship, but in the past bottles of brandy and madeira were de rigeur 

Pomp: Sailors and a military band performed drills and pieces of music ahead of commemorative speeches at the ceremony

The unusual choice of whisky - rather than champagne - for naming the ship was made as a nod to the prominent role Scottish docks and workers have had in its construction. The variety chosen was from the Isle of Islay, one of the Outer Hebrides, as was provided by the island's Bowmore Distillery. 

Earlier First Sea Lord George Zambellas, the head of the Royal Navy, described the ship as 'a steel-clad phoenix' which will give rebirth to British sea power when it becomes fully operational in 2020. 

At the naming ceremony, Her Majesty said: 'In sponsoring this new aircraft carrier, I believe the Queen Elizaberth, a flagship for the Royal Navy, will be a source of inspiration and pride for us all.

'The Lord High Admiral, the Duke of Edinburgh, joins me in congratulating all in the Aircraft Carrier Alliance on this magnificent achievement and wishing the first ship's company well in the time ahead.

Patriotic: Crowds turned out to witness the ceremony, characterised as the beginning of a new age of British sea power by leading naval officers

UK all the way: The HMS Queen Elizabeth is expected to be central to the British military's ability to undertake military action abroad for the next 50 years

Celebration: Senior members of government, including Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, centre left, and Prime Minister David Cameron, centre, joined the Queen, right, at the naming ceremony

Dignitaries: Prime Minister David Cameron, left, and his predecessor Gordon Brown, right, turned out for the naming ceremony in Rosyth, Fife

Scottish roots: First Minister Alex Salmond, left, also attended, alongside his 92-year-old father Robert, centre, who served in the Royal Navy in the Second World War

'Wherever this ship may serve, whatever tasks may be asked of her, let all those who serve on her know that on this day she was blessed with the prayers of us all for her success and for her safe return to calm waters.

'I name this ship Queen Elizabeth, may god bless her and all who sail in her.' 

The naming of the warship comes five years after the first metal was cut on the vessel and 33 months after the first section entered the dry dock at Rosyth to begin being put together.

The ship and a second vessel, the under-construction HMS Prince of Wales, are the largest warships ever built for the Royal Navy.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is now structurally complete and ready to be floated out of her dock for the first time this month, shortly after being named by the Queen.

The two ships are both termed Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers and are being built by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA), a partnership of BAE Systems, Babcock, Thales and the Ministry of Defence. Overall, six shipyards around the UK - Appledore, Birkenhead, Govan, Portsmouth, Rosyth and Tyne - have been involved in building various parts of the carriers. 

Flying high: The ship, which will become operational in 2020, will carry F-35 Lightning strike fighters, which it will be able to deploy at a rate of one every 30 seconds

There has only been one previous HMS Queen Elizabeth, which was completed 100 years earlier. The new ship's name is both the continuation of this historic Royal Navy name and a tribute to the Queen.

Those behind the project, which costs an estimated £6.2 billion overall, say the QE Class will be the centrepiece of Britain's naval capability.

David Cameron today hailed the ship as a symbol of ‘a truly great country’ which has its roots in maritime prowess. 

In a comment for the HMS Queen Elizabeth’s naming book, he said the ship would help secure ‘British prosperity and our country’s place in the world’.

He wrote: ‘Defending our nation, protecting our way of life, promoting our national interests: these are the vital priorities of Government and in each of them the Royal Navy has a key part to play.

‘The United Kingdom is a truly great country whose proud maritime heritage has helped secure its place on the international stage.

‘We live in a world which is increasingly inter-connected and inter-reliant. But one thing remains unchanged. The world’s sea lanes are our trading superhighways, with over 95 per cent of our nation’s trade by volume still transported across the high seas.

‘And so the United Kingdom, together with like-minded partners, is investing in a stable international system at sea, through diplomacy, free trade and maritime security.

‘Here in the United Kingdom that commitment is being matched by a strategic investment in a modern, credible and world-class fleet.

‘That includes everything from cutting-edge air defence destroyers and stealthy attack submarines, to state-of-the-art naval aircraft.

‘But HMS Queen Elizabeth is the flagship of our nation's maritime ambition and will be the spearhead of British sea power for the next half Century.

‘She is also a tribute to the skills and craftsmanship of the workforce at Rosyth, on the Clyde, in Portsmouth and in yards and factories throughout the United Kingdom.

‘As a national instrument of power and influence, HMS Queen Elizabeth is not just an investment in the future of the Royal Navy and our defence - she is an investment in the future of British security, British prosperity and our country’s place in the world.’

WHY WHISKY? SEA-INSPIRED SPIRIT FROM ISLE OF ISLAY BREWERY AS TRIBUTE TO SCOTTISH EFFORTS ON WARSHIP 

The Government made the unusual decision to 'christen' HMS Queen Elizabeth with malt whisky rather than champagne as a nod to the efforts of Scottish workers on the ship, which has now been assembled in Rosyth Dockyards, Fife.

The particular variety chosen was a sea-inspired whisky from Bowmore Distillery, which stands by a loch on the Isle of Islay, one of the Inner Hebrides to the west of Scotland. The distillery was the first the Queen visited in an official capacity. 

Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael, who comes from Islay himself, said: 'World class whisky and world class shipbuilding are two of Scotland’s finest products so Friday promises to be a special day when we blend the two of them.'

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond added: 'This ship, the biggest the Royal Navy has ever had, is a demonstration of the UK at its very best with workers from across the Union contributing. This will be an occasion when it’s OK to spill a drop.

The Queen made her visit to Bowmore Distillery, on the shores of Loch Indaal, in 1980. The variety used is called Bowmore Surf, and is produced by the Worshipful Company of Distillers. 

According to distillers, it 'takes inspiration from the sea; the sea spray saturates the peaty soil and a sea tang finds its way into the whisky which is a fitting tribute to the sea that shapes it.'

Although champagne is a more common choice for naming ships, there is no particular tradition saying that it must be used. Submarines are usually named with home brew beer. In Nelson's era it was more usual to employ brandy or madeira.

However, there is a precedent for whisky, which was also used to name the HMS Sutherland in 1996, again for its Scottish connections. 

In action: This computer-generated image, provided by the Ministry of Defence, shows how the finished HMS Queen Elizabeth will look in action. In the above frame an F-35 Lightning jet lands vertically on the vessel's huge deck, which is long enough to hold four jumbo jets

Scale: The ship, pictured above in another CGI picture passing out of naval dockyards in Portsmouth, Hampshire, is the largest vessel ever built for the Royal Navy and cost some £6billion

Choppers: The ship, shown above in CGI, is multi-functional, and can support RAF Chinook helicopters, shown above, as well as attack jets. It is designed to suit humanitarian projects as well as warfare

Capabilities: The above graphic shows the myriad features of the proud new ship, which will be able to hold more than 1,000 sailors

Cavernous: The huge hold of the vessel will be able to carry F-35 Lightning attack fighters as well as Chinook helicopters

GIANT OF THE SEAS: ENORMOUS WARSHIP THAT WILL LEAD THE ROYAL NAVY FOR 50 YEARS

At 72,000 tons and 932 feet long, the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier is taller than Nelson’s Column and considerably wider than the M25 at its widest point.

She generates enough energy to power Swindon, she can produce 500 tons of fresh water a day — and travel 500 miles a day, too.

Above all, she will be able to deliver 36 F-35 Lightning strike fighters and 1,000 troops from the largest piece of British sovereign territory afloat.

Her sister ship, the Prince of Wales, is already in production, though it has still not been decided whether she will be operational, mothballed or sold.

Each ship, which has a life expectancy of around 50 years, will be fitted out with more than three million metres of cable and it will have enough power to light up a small town. 

This week, the Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, described the project as a feat of engineering to match the London Olympics.

You could say much the same about the price - more than £6 billion for the pair. And that does not include the planes.

Each 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier will provide the armed forces with a four-acre military operating base, which can be deployed worldwide, operating the F-35 Lightning II and a number of types of helicopter. At full capacity, the carrier will be able to launch an aircraft every 30 seconds.

They will be versatile enough to be used across the full spectrum of military activity, from war fighting to providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief. 

HMS Queen Elizabeth will have 679 permanent crew and capacity for 1,600 crew members when fully operational.

The ship features a new style of 'twin island' command points - one at the front for steering and one at the back for aircraft direction. Thanks to the cutting-edge technology on board, commanders on the bridge will be able to see 250 miles away.

The carrier's range is said to be 10,000 nautical miles and the ship is fitted with a long range 3D radar that is capable of tracking more than 1,000 targets at once or spotting a tennis ball travelling at 2,000 miles per hour. 

Long way down: Two workmen look up at the giant hull of HMS Queen Elizabeth during the construction phase. It is due to come into full service in 2020 and will be Britain's biggest ever warship

Scale: The HMS Queen Elizabeth, right with the brown deck, is pictured above next to the HMS Illustrious, left, which it dwarfs in size

 

DM