Royal Navy's new ship takes shape on the Clyde

Construction of the first of the two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy, HMS Queen Elizabeth, took a huge step forward yesterday as workers at BAE Systems' Govan yard moved two giant sections of the hull together for the first time.

The structure is so big that it fills an entire hall at Govan and now extends beyond the doors on to the yard, providing a spectacular view from across the River Clyde.

It took a team of 20 employees and remote controlled transporters just one hour to move 1,221 tonnes of steel over 100 metres across the shipyard. The hull section was then manoeuvred carefully into position to line up with the rest of the block.

Steven Carroll, Queen Elizabeth Class Project Director at BAE Systems' Surface Ships division, said: "Seeing the mid-section of the carrier come together brings into sharp focus the sheer scale and complexity of this engineering feat.

"With construction under way at six shipyards across the country, it is one of the biggest engineering projects in the UK today - second only to the London 2012 Olympics - and we're all very proud to be a part of it."