Construction of the ship began in at Rosyth Dockyard and ended with launch on 21 December She was handed over to the Royal Navy in When on operations, Prince of Wales will form a central part of a UK Carrier Strike Group , comprising escorts and support ships, with the aim to facilitate carrier-enabled power projection.
An month study commenced into the conversion but ultimately found that it would cause severe cost implications and delays. In May , the government announced it would be reversing its decision to convert Prince of Wales and that the ship would be built to its original STOVL design.
The SDSR also stipulated that the UK only required one aircraft carrier, however penalty clauses in the contract meant that cancelling Prince of Wales would be more expensive than building her. Instead, the government planned to construct Prince of Wales and then either place her into extended readiness or have her sold to an ally. Prince of Wales was assembled at Rosyth from 52 blocks built by six shipyards around the UK.
On 21 December , Prince of Wales was floated out of Rosyth drydock 1 for the first time and manoeuvred to a nearby jetty for fitting-out and further systems integration. The Prince of Wales was due to commence sea trials in with a view to being commissioned in late On 28 February , Prince of Wales arrived in her affiliated city of Liverpool for the first time on a week-long visit. This was followed by more significant flooding from the fire control system in October which caused damage to her electrical cabling.
She was confined to docks where she remained for almost eight months whilst repairs were made. Her long-planned deployment to the United States to undertake her first FB trials was cancelled. The two ships of the Queen Elizabeth class are each expected to be capable of carrying forty aircraft, a maximum of 36 Lockheed Martin FB Lightning II stealth multirole fighters and four AgustaWestland Merlin helicopters.
