HMS Queen Elizabeth in numbers

We've all now seen the images of the HMS Queen Elizabeth carrier making waves (both figuratively and literally) as she sailed into her home port. Hulking over the Portsmouth coast it was the sheer size of the vessel that struck most people, especially when she had to squeeze through the narrowest channel between here and Gosport.

So exactly how big is the ship, and what else is there to know about her? Well, here are the facts and figures, detailing everything you need to know about HMS Queen Elizabeth and the operation to bring her in to Portsmouth.

£120 million has been invested in Portsmouth Naval Base to get it ready for the arrival of Britain’s biggest ever warship.

The total cost of the two carriers (HMS Queen Elizabeth is to be joined by sister ship HMS Prince of Wales in the coming years) is £6.23 billion.

The Portsmouth Naval Base contributes £450m to the economy - even before the carriers arrive.

12,130 people are employed on the base, (most of whom are local). This accounts for 1 in 25 of all jobs in the Solent Area.

6 cities have been involved in the carrier's construction

More than 10,000 people and 700 businesses and suppliers were involved in the creation of these carriers. 90% of them hailed from the UK.

51 million hours were spent designing and building the Queen Elizabeth Class.

This supported 7,000-8,000 jobs at the Tier 1 shipyards around the UK, plus a further 2,000-3,000 across the UK supply chain.

£65 million of QEC preparation work was spent with the Fareham-based dredging company Boskalis Westminster Ltd.

3 million cubic metres of clay, sand and gravel has been excavated from the harbour and approach channel.

More than 20,000 items, ranging from shoes to sea mines, were found during the dredging of the approach to the Harbour. Many dated back several centuries.

QEC doubles the total vessel tonnage that will be supported at Portsmouth Naval Base to around 250,000 tonnes. The last time Portsmouth Naval Base supported this amount was in its heyday in the 1950s.

1,000 new jobs have been created in the supply chain due to the QEC. Plus, it has secured the future of jobs at Portsmouth Naval Base jobs for the next 50 years.

32,000 planned annual maintenance tasks for each carrier will be carried out by Portsmouth-based staff.

£1.3 billion in support and maintenance costs for the carrier strike group is planned up to March 2021; a significant amount of which will be spent paying Portsmouth-based staff.

Only three other countries in the world are building aircraft carriers.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is 280m long. This makes her longer than the height of the Spinnaker Tower (170m), or more than three football pitches. She's 90m longer than the existing aircraft carrier.

She's 70m wide; twice the width of the existing aircraft carrier.

As 65,000 tonnes in weight, she's over three times the size of the Invincible Class aircraft carriers.

With 56m from keel to masthead, HMS Queen Elizabeth is 4m taller than Niagara Falls.

The ship's propellers weigh 33 tonnes each: nearly two and half times as heavy as a double decker bus and one and half times as high.

The bunkbeds are 3ft wide, compared to the usual 2ft 3in found in other Royal Navy ships.

Around 1.5 million square metres of paintwork covers the ship.

There's a 110MW power station on board, which could provide enough power for Portsea Island.

Her anchor is 3.1m high and weighs 13 tonnes - almost as much as a double decker bus.

The ships on-board water treatment plant will produce over 500 tonnes of fresh water daily.

She has a 50 year life-span (service-life) and will travel up to 500 miles a day. She has a range of 10,000 miles and a top speed of 25 knots.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is effectively a 4 acre military operating base.

Each carrier is made up of 17 million parts.

There is 364,000m of pipes inside each ship.

The carriers will have a crew complement of around 700, increasing to circa 1,600 when a full complement of 36 F-35B aircraft and 4 Crowsnest helicopters are embarked.

Each carrier keeps 45 days’ worth of food in its stores.

The entire Ship’s Company can be served a meal within 90 minutes, or 45 minutes when at action station.