Aircraft carrier returns to Portsmouth after visits to Liverpool and Scotland

HMS Queen Elizabeth has arrived back at Portsmouth Naval Base.

People look on as the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth arrives back in Portsmouth (Andrew Matthews/PA) (PA Wire)

Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth has returned to its home base following visits to Liverpool and Scotland.

The warship arrived at Portsmouth Naval Base after visiting the Firth of Clyde for the second time since its launch in July 2014.

It also called in to Liverpool for five days, with the crew hosting visits from local community groups.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is one of two carriers which are the largest and most powerful vessels ever built for the Royal Navy (Andrew Matthews/PA) (PA Wire)

Well-wishers lined the beach and the harbour walls to get a view of the giant ship as it arrived at the Hampshire port on Wednesday.

The 65,000-tonne vessel visited Loch Long on the Clyde, where it berthed at the Glen Mallan ammunition jetty, which has completed a £67 million upgrade to accommodate the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth class carriers.

The Royal Navy said HMS Queen Elizabeth visited Glen Mallan as part of a routine logistics visit after returning to sea as the UK’s Very High Readiness Strike Carrier.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is one of two carriers which are the largest and most powerful vessels ever built for the Royal Navy.

Construction of the warship began in 2009, with six shipyards around the UK involved in building different sections transported to the Rosyth dockyard in Fife to be assembled.