It is a great pleasure to be here with you aboard HMS Queen
Elizabeth today. Let me start by thanking you all, a great
partnership of ship’s company and contractors, for your
tremendous work putting this great ship through her paces during
her sea trials. I know it’s been a major undertaking.
This is the biggest and most complex warship ever built for the
Royal Navy. So to test her capabilities thoroughly, and to make
sure that her 17 million components are working as they should,
is a very big job. The fact that she was ready to come in to port
ahead of schedule is testament to your hard work.
As the first generation of sailors to form this ship’s company,
you have a special privilege and responsibility. You are setting
the standard for those who come after you. Decades from now, when
this ship is carrying our flag around the world, protecting our
interests and ensuring our security, you will be able to look
back on this time with pride. And the whole country is proud of
you. The skill and professionalism of the Royal Navy are
world-renowned. Your service is critical to our country’s
security and success in the world. In doing your vital work, you
and your families are often called upon to make enormous
sacrifices.
I know that you make them unstintingly and that you always give
of your best. Britain truly has the best sailors, marines and
officers in the world and I believe that you deserve the very
best equipment. That is what we have with HMS Queen Elizabeth.
This ship is a symbol of the United Kingdom as a great global,
maritime nation.
Clearly, she is a stunning piece of twenty-first century
engineering and a true testament to British shipbuilding and
design. Six shipyards from across the United Kingdom contributed
sections of this vessel. In Glasgow, Devon, Tyneside, Merseyside,
Portsmouth and Fife, the skill of British shipbuilders were on
display in her construction. Over 10,000 people, including 800
apprenticeships, 700 businesses helped build the mighty ship we
see today. We are determined to build on the success of the Queen
Elizabeth class carriers with a National Shipbuilding Strategy to
open up new opportunities for our great British shipyards in the
future.
Britain can be proud of this ship, and what it represents. It
sends a clear signal that as Britain forges a new, positive,
confident role for ourselves on the world stage in the years
ahead, we are determined to remain a fully engaged global power,
working closely with our friends and allies around the world.
As a leading member of NATO, the foremost
military power in Europe and a permanent member of the UN
Security Council, Britain has an enduring responsibility to help
sustain the international rules-based order, and to defend the
liberal values which underpin it.
To ensure we can do so effectively, we will increase defence
spending every year and continue to meet NATO’s target to
spend 2% of GDP on defence. Our carrier
programme is an example of what that spending can deliver. As
highly versatile and potent assets, they will be able to meet the
widest range of challenges around the world. Whether the task be
high intensity war fighting, targeted action to fight terrorism
or humanitarian relief to save lives overseas, these ships will
transform the UK’s ability to project power around the world.
Alongside her supporting task-group, including state-of-the-art
aircraft, helicopters and escorts, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS
Prince of Wales will in time give the UK a truly world class
carrier strike capability for decades to come. Here in
Portsmouth, the home of the Royal Navy and the new home of this
great ship, we are surrounded by reminders of the Royal Navy’s
proud past. It was from this harbour that Nelson embarked aboard
HMS Victory before the battle of Trafalgar; from here the allied
forces left for the Normandy beaches to defeat fascism on D-day;
and from here that the task-force set sail for the South Atlantic
to liberate the Falklands.
Many times in our history we have called upon the Royal Navy to
defend our island and protect our interests and those of our
citizens around the world. The threats we face may have changed,
and naval technology advanced beyond all recognition. But in the
fifty years of service to come from this vessel, we can be
inspired by those traditions to face the new challenges of the
twenty-first century with the same determination and resolve
which have always been the Royal Navy’s hallmarks.
I hope that you can all enjoy some respite before you take the
ship out of harbour again for the next phase of her sea trials,
and let me once again thank you all for your service to our
country.
