HMS Queen Elizabeth arrives back in Portsmouth in first late night entry after latest F-35 trials

HMS Queen Elizabeth sailed back into Portsmouth overnight.

The Royal Navy carrier returned from her latest round of flight trials with the F-35 jets in the early hours of Friday.

It was HMS Queen Elizabeth’s first night entry into Portsmouth harbour.

The carrier’s official twitter account said that she was returning to her home port after successfully ‘finishing F35 and 824NAS flying early’.

And that is now us safely #Home after successfully finishing #UKF35 and 824NAS flying early.

Special mention to our Navigator who’s last entry will go into the record books as the first night one.

Photo Credit @AmzJS13 pic.twitter.com/Sjos5wkERa
— HMS Queen Elizabeth (@HMSQNLZ) February 14, 2020

She sailed back into Portsmouth exactly three weeks after leaving, making this the shortest time the 65,000-tonne carrier has spent at sea with the F35s.

Yesterday The News reported that the Royal Navy insisted the carrier’s late night return had always been ‘planned’ and declined to comment on whether the surprise return was due to an unexpected fault on the ship.

However, one senior naval source said the move to bring in the ship was bizarre and claimed it could indicate a fault had been identified that was too difficult to fix at sea.