The biggest warship ever made in Britain had a fault in her electric drive shortly after setting sail from Portsmouth last month. Sources say the 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier “lost all propulsion” for several hours but the former head of the senior service, Admiral Lord Alan West, dismissed this as “just a niggle”. The propulsion issues came just days after HMS Queen Elizabeth nearly caused three servicemen to drown when a salt-water pipe burst. 

The Ministry of Defence dismissed the accident as a “minor issue with an internal system” but reports claimed the leak had three servicemen on board at risk of drowning. 

British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) have claimed HMS Queen Elizabeth took on nearly 200 tonnes of water due to a high-pressure salt water pipe unexpectedly bursting.

But Portsmouth South MP, Stephen Morgan told Portsmouth daily The News: “I have made urgent enquiries and I’m confident the Royal Navy will overcome these issues and restore the carrier to full operational capability.”

A Royal Navy spokesman told The News: “HMS Queen Elizabeth did experience some propulsion issues during her sea training period but rectified them before continuing with her programme at that time.”

On top of this, it is understood there are not enough sailors and staff to run all the kitchens. 

A Queen Elizabeth spokesperson said: “The Royal Navy has acknowledged the difficulties it faces in the recruitment of chefs and catering ratings and have developed recruiting initiatives to address this.” 

Despite the issues the Navy insisted Queen Elizabeth achieved plenty during her 23 days at sea: the warship carried out 562 deck landings and a range of exercises from fire-fighting and search and rescue drills to air defence tests.

For the first time, the sailors on the ship conducted live-fire drills with the Phalanx anti-air gun, which can eject 4,500 rounds a minute into the air to destroy jets and missiles

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