Queen uses Bowmore whisky to name new warship

Today the Queen visited the Rosyth dockyard in Fife to give her name to the largest aircraft carrier built in the UK.

At the ceremony, where PM David Cameron and first minister Alex Salmond were also in attendance, she used a bottle of whisky rather than the traditional champagne to officially name the ship.

The ceremony saw the Queen smash a bottle of Bowmore Islay malt whisky against the hull of the new HMS Queen Elizabeth. The Bowmore Distillery is the first distillery she visited in an official capacity back in August 1980.

The 65-tonne ship will begin service in 2020 and will be home to a crew of almost 700. Along with its sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, the two will cost an estimated £6.2bn to complete. Work is due to start on HMS Prince of Wales later this year at Rosyth.

4 July 2014 - Rebecca Sterritt Paragraph Publishing, content manager