HMS Queen Elizabeth begins sea trials

HMS ‘Queen Elizabeth’ accompanied on her maiden voyage by an 820 NAS Merlin HM2 and the frigates HMS ‘Sutherland’ and HMS ‘Iron Duke’. Crown Copyright THE ROYAL Navy’s new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) went to sea for the first time on June 26 to begin trials off the coast of Scotland. The Royal Navy’s largest ever warship was carefully moved from the basin at Rosyth, where construction of the carrier began in 2014, and into the Forth estuary.