After more than a year out of service for maintenance, the Royal Navy’s aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth has departed Portsmouth as part of its first major modernization since joining the British fleet. The departure marks the start of a new phase of sea trials and technical upgrades, including a planned seven-month stay in dry dock at the Babcock shipyard in Rosyth, Scotland.
The HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Navy’s flagship and a key element of the UK’s naval power, is currently undergoing a period of “upkeep” — a scheduled overhaul following six years of demanding operational activity. Since entering service in 2017, the aircraft carrier has led global missions, including a deployment to the Indo-Pacific in 2021 and NATO exercises in European waters.
The initial phase of maintenance, carried out in Portsmouth, focused on significant engineering tasks, most notably the overhaul of the propulsion system and the installation of new navigation controls. During this time, the ship’s crew — around 500 sailors — also participated in rigorous training to ensure the carrier is fully operational for its next phase.
“We accomplished a tremendous amount of work throughout 2025. The propulsion system upgrade stands out as the most significant improvement, alongside many other technical projects completed in partnership with industry,” explained Captain Claire Thompson, commanding officer of HMS Queen Elizabeth. She also emphasized that despite ongoing trials and the upcoming dry dock phase, her primary goal is to develop a highly capable team for future frontline missions.
The sea trials will include emergency response and damage control assessments conducted by the Fleet Operational Sea Training (FOST) teams, covering simulated fires, flooding, and critical safety tasks.
Once in Rosyth, in addition to the regular maintenance required under Lloyd’s regulations — which mandate a dry dock inspection every six years — the aircraft carrier will be fitted with the new Bedford Array landing aid system. This advanced technology will significantly improve the precision and safety of vertical landing operations for F-35B Lightning II jets, especially when landing with heavy payloads using the SRVL (Shipborne Rolling Vertical Landing) technique, exclusive to STOVL aircraft.
It’s worth recalling that in February 2024, HMS Queen Elizabeth had to withdraw at the last minute from NATO’s Steadfast Defender exercise due to corrosion discovered on one of its propeller shafts. The severity of the issue forced the ship to sail to Rosyth using only one operational shaft. It was later decided to fully replace both shafts to avoid future failures — a measure previously undertaken with its sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales.
This incident, which drew critical headlines in the British press, has since been satisfactorily resolved. The Royal Navy and its contractors have implemented a more agile and continuous maintenance strategy, inspired by practices in the civilian sector, aimed at reducing dry dock downtime. However, the lack of a suitable dry dock in Portsmouth continues to require carriers to travel to Scotland for major overhauls — a logistical limitation expected to be addressed in the long term.
HMS Queen Elizabeth will remain in Rosyth until early 2026, preparing to resume its active role as the spearhead of British naval power across the world’s oceans.
Images courtesy of the Royal Navy.
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