In pictures: HMS Queen Elizabeth loaded onto Clyde

A section of the HMS Queen Elizabeth is loaded onto a barge on the River Clyde. Picture: Robert Perry

• 750-tonne section of an aircraft carrier is loaded onto River Clyde barge

• HMS Queen Elizabeth will be UK’s biggest aircraft carrier

Workers at BAE System’s Scotstoun yard will now weld and secure the aft island to the barge before it leaves for Rosyth, Fife, on June 16 to join the other sections of the massive ship.

Workers at BAE System's Scotstoun yard. Picture: TSPL

The aft island, which will host the carrier’s air traffic control centre, is the last major section of the HMS Queen Elizabeth to be made on the Clyde and has been completed ahead of schedule, BAE said.

HMS Queen Elizabeth and another aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, are the largest warships ever constructed for the Royal Navy.

The first is due to be launched in 2016.

Six shipyards around the UK are involved in building various parts of the ships, which are ultimately being assembled in Fife. Once complete it will be 280m (919ft) long and weigh more than 65,000 tonnes.

They are being built by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, a partnership of BAE Systems, Babcock, Thales and the Ministry of Defence.

About 10,000 people have worked on the construction at various stages and crews of 1,600, including pilots, will populate each ship when they are in service.