British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth passed under the Forth Bridge as it set sail after extensive repairs and upgrades.
The ship was forced to withdraw from leading NATO’s biggest exercise since the Cold War in February after a “problem” with a propeller shaft was detected during final checks.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “The issue identified relates to the ship’s shaft couplings. The ship’s propeller shafts are too large to be manufactured from a single piece of metal, so each shaft is made up of three sections, which are connected using shaft couplings, which bind the shaft sections together.”
HMS Prince of Wales, the sister ship and newest of the £3bn class, was deployed instead while HMS Queen Elizabeth went for repairs in Rosyth.
