Seeing the UK's newest aircraft carriers, side by side in Portsmouth harbour alongside some other Royal Navy ships

Back in August we took a cross-channel ferry to get from Portsmouth on the south coast of England, to Caen on the north coast of France. When leaving Portsmouth, the ferry sailed right passed His Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB) Portsmouth - and we got a view of both of Britain's new aircraft carriers, along with a few other Royal Navy ships.

In the pic above you can see the two new aircraft carriers. On the right is R08, which is the HMS Queen Elizabeth. And on the left along side her in the background is R09 HMS Prince of Wales. They were too big to get in one shot showing them side by side. We only built two of these type of aircraft carriers so I was really surprised to see them side-by-side like this. They are our only Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. HMS stands for His Majesty's Ships, but would have been Her Majesty's Ship when these were launched, because the Queen was still alive at that point - I'm assuming we now have to use His, now that Charlie the third is in the hot seat.

Thats R08, HMS Queen Elizabeth. You can clearly see the take-off ramp at the front (bow) and its two large control towers. These ships were both built in the Rosyth Royal Dockyard in Scotland, which is quite close to Edinburgh where I live. They were both built recently, being launched within the last 10 years.

My daughter even had a school trip to visit R09, HMS prince of Wales. Its actually quite a funny story, because one night she came home really excited form school saying that she was going to meet Prince William ! We thought that was pretty cool, and then we got an email from the school explaining that they were going on a school trip to see the Prince of Wales ! Her and her friends didnt realise it was the ship and not the real Prince ! I was killing myself laughing when I found out and told her - but they all still enjoyed the trip !

Thats a close-up of R09, HMS prince of Wales above. It gives a better view of the towers, which are around 5 storys high each. You can also see into the aircraft hangers within the bowels of the ship via the two rectangle cut-outs in the side. In the right hand one there were actually a lot of people assembled for somekind of brief or something, but its hard to make out as I was only taking these on my phone, but it was cool to see.

The next along was D34, HMS Diamond which is a type 45 destroyer (Daring-class). This is one of our newer destroyers being just over 10 years old. The type-45s have that very distinctive tower in the centre of the ship. This ship was also built in Scotland, but in this case in the Govan ship yard in Glasgow (famously the workplace of the comedian Billy Connolly before he became a comedian). The aircraft carriers normally sail as part of a battle fleet, which will normally include a number of destroyers which have the very important job of protecting the aircraft carrier. The battle fleet has a very specific design/layout such that there is an 'iron' perimeter of protection around the carrier made up of all the other ships and their various defenses.

The ship on the left in the epic above is a little intriguing, as its name was scrubbed out. It looks like some kind of support ship - maybe it was being decommissioned or something, but I couldnt identify it. The ship to the right is the stern (back) of R09, HMS prince of Wales, again.

Above is F78, HMS Kent, a type 23 Duke class frigate. This was launched in the 90s and hence is a little older. So you can sort of see the evolution of our ships. Type 23s (90s), to type 45s (2000+) and then onto the Elizabeth-class carriers (2010+). This was also built in Glasgow in Scotland, but at the Yarrow Scotstoun Yard - which is on the opposite bank of the River Clyde, which runs right through the middle of Glasgow. Ship building has always been a big thing in Glasgow and employs many people there.

In the pic above we have F234, Iron Duke, which is another type 23, but older than HMS Kent, launched earlier in the 90s. Then at the back is A389, RFA Wave Knight. RFA stands for Royal Fleet Auxiliary. These are the very important support ships which are sent out to refuel and re-stock the warships when they are at sea. They will carry all kinds of things including food, clothing and ammunition, and can make fairly complicated supply transfers at sea while the ships are in motion. I've always found those vessels quite interesting. Wave Knight is about 20 years old.

And we were treated to a view of another Navy ship, but from a very different era. On the left in the pic above is one of our old warships from the 1800s (with the 3 sailing masts). Its HMS Warrior, from when sail ships ruled the seas. So we really did get treated to seeing a range of ships across about 150 years of naval history. Also in the pic above on the right is the Spinnaker Tower, which is one of Portsmouth's famous landmarks - I think its a viewing tower that you can go up in and get nice 360 degree views from, but I dont know much more about it than that.

I have to say that I enjoyed seeing all these ships, and I was also texting the pics to my dad at the same time, as he used to be in the Navy, and likes his ships. He served on Aircraft Carriers (but in the American Navy). I was then getting excited about getting to the open sea, as from Portsmouth we would be passing close by the Isle of Wight, which lies just of the south coast of England. I've never seen it, hence my excitement. And when we got to the open sea, the pic above shows you our visibility - nada ! The weather was rubbish and this bank of mist and rain surrounded us on all sides. Based on what google maps was telling my while I was on the boat, the Isle of Wight should have been right there in the pic above ! So I've still never seen it. We also took a different route on the way back, so didnt get to see it then either ! Oh well - maybe another time. But seeing all of those ships while leaving Portsmouth was an unexpected bonus - so I was pretty happy with that (I had read about them all, and only seen one of the aircraft carriers before, so really enjoyed seeing them all first hand).