The Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth has arrived in Annapolis to host a series of events onboard to discuss the future of defence capability. This is an historic visit by a Royal Navy ship to Annapolis, with only one other ship from the UK officially visiting the city’s port in the last century: the HMS Bigbury, more than 60 years ago.
The HMS Queen Elizabeth is the lead ship of the Queen Elizabeth class of aircraft carriers, the largest warships ever built for the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. She is capable of carrying up to 70 aircraft.
The video below shows the HMS Queen Elizabeth arriving in the USA with a stop in Mayport, FL.
On Thursday, November 21, the 2019 Atlantic Future Forum (AFF) will take place onboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth while she is at anchor off Annapolis during her deployment to the USA.
The event, a full day conference, brings together the brightest minds and most influential thinkers-from defence and beyond-to strengthen the US-UK special relationship and encourage collaboration between the public and private sector.
The forum will bring together industry, military, and government leaders to discuss the issues to be faced in what has come to be known as the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ of AI, cyber technology, robotics, and big data.
Through a series of keynote speeches and panel discussions, the forum will explore how both private and public sector and US and UK interests can work together to maximize the opportunities, and mitigate the risks, posed by current and future technologies.
This visit is part of the ship's Westlant19 deployment aimed at achieving full operational capability. Ahead of full operations in 2021, the carrier, British F-35B jets, and supporting units will be rigorously tested under realistic warfighting scenarios, visiting Canada and the USA during the three-month mission.
For more information, visit the Royal Navy's website.