The HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier sails off the coast of Scotland in March 2021. This week, the Queen Elizabeth visited Belfast, long a hub of shipbuilding in the United Kingdom. (UK Ministry of Defence/LPhot Pepe Hogan)
Royal Navy Carrier Makes Port Call to Belfast
During the port call—scheduled to last until Monday—sailors will have looser assignments than usual, and fewer restrictions on what and when to eat at the ship’s dining hall.
HMS Queen Elizabeth, the former and future flagship of the Royal Navy, made a port call in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Wednesday. It marked the first visit of an aircraft carrier to the port city in more than 60 years.
Belfast Harbor is the only location on the British-controlled section of the island where such a large warship can berth directly at a dockside terminal instead of anchoring in a deepwater bay. The harbor has deep commercial infrastructure and historical shipbuilding legacy. The Harland & Wolff shipyard even features dry docks that are large enough to accommodate HMS Queen Elizabeth and other vessels of its size, though it is hoped that they will not be needed.
“Not every port can take a ship this size, and a lot of planning has gone on with our team, working very closely with the Royal Navy to make sure that the Queen Elizabeth can come along safely,” Port Director Michael Robinson told BFBS Forces News.
“We’re really excited for the future,” Robinson said. “The fact that the Royal Navy are coming here with lots of ships, and this [HMS Queen Elizabeth] as the poster girl, if we can call her that, is a really great accolade for us.”
BFBS Forces News reporter Tim Cooper shared a video of HMS Queen Elizabeth at the dock in Belfast in a post on X.
The conventionally-powered flattop was able to dock alongside the Belfast Cruise Terminal, and will remain until it departs next Monday.
The Queen Elizabeth-Class Carrier’s Specifications
- Number in Service: Two (HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Prince of Wales)
- Length: 932 ft (280 m)
- Beam (Width): 240 ft (73 m)
- Displacement: 65,000 tons
- Engines: Two Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbine alternators, four Wärtsilä 38 marine diesel engines
- Top Speed: 32 knots (37 mph, 59 km/h); cruising speed 25 knots (29 mph, 46 km/h)
- Range: 10,000 nmi (11,500 mi, 19,000 km)
- Armaments:
- Three Phalanx CIWS (Close-In Weapon Systems)
- Four 30mm DS30M Mk2 guns
- Six Browning .50 caliber heavy machine guns (formerly miniguns)
- Air wing: Up to 36 F-35B Lightning II jets, with a surge capacity for over 70 aircraft, including Merlin, Wildcat, Chinook, and Apache helicopters
- Crew: 679 personnel, with a capacity to accommodate up to 1,600
Northern Ireland Has Long Led the UK in Shipbuilding
The Harland & Wolff shipyard built several of the most famous naval vessels in the world. This most prominently included the famously doomed RMS Titanic, its older sister ship RMS Olympic, and HMHS Britannic, the third Olympic-class ocean liner that served as a hospital ship during World War I before being sunk in 1916.
Numerous Royal Navy warships, including past aircraft carriers, were also built in Northern Ireland’s largest city. That included the Town-class light cruiser HMS Belfast, which is now preserved as a museum ship on the River Thames in London, the Audacious-class aircraft carrier HMS Eagle, the armored carrier HMS Formidable, HMS Glorious, HMS Centaur, and the Royal Canadian Navy aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure.
Although full-scale shipbuilding in the port ended in 2003, Belfast could see a significant resurgence. The shipyard, which Spanish state-owned shipbuilder Navantia UK acquired in January 2025, is now undergoing a nearly £100 million ($132.1 million) transformation, which includes refurbishing its once iconic Samson and Goliath gantry cranes and upgrading fabrication halls for active manufacturing.
Royal Navy Sailors Are Eating Well on Deployment
Just as HMS Queen Elizabeth arrived in Belfast, it also began to trial “all-day” dining for the crew in place of traditional meals and meal times, the Royal Navy announced.
The carrier has two main galleys for the crew. As part of the trial, its forward galley will be turned into a “grazing galley,” offering “non-stop” eating options from 9am until 6pm, with options such as fruit salads, salmon bagels, and toasted panini sandwiches. The aft galley will continue to provide more traditional three meals a day for the crew.
“Everyone onboard is busy, so giving people a chance to eat at a time that suits them and their working pattern should be a big help to a lot of people,” said Warrant Officer 2 “Barney” Barnes, HMS Queen Elizabeth’s Catering Warrant Officer. “Our golden rule is that we’re not taking anything away. There will still be meals served at set times; all-day feeding gives our sailors options to eat something else instead.”
The new dining options are the latest changes for the carrier, which completed a 22-month-long maintenance period earlier this year, the first full refit since the warship was commissioned in 2017.
HMS Queen Elizabeth returned to service at the same time London’s Defence Investment Plan called for £240 million ($325.2 million) to be directed to support the development of a “Hybrid Carrier Air Wing.” That air wing, if realized, will consist of jet-powered drones that will operate alongside and even support the F-35B Lightning II fifth-generation fighters that are embarked on the Royal Navy flattops.
In July, the carrier also took on its role as command ship for the NATO alliance.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed to dozens of newspapers, magazines, and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author at Editor@nationalinterest.org.
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