In pictures: HMS Queen Elizabeth passes under the Forth Bridge after successful Scotland repairs

Britain's biggest warship has been pictured returning to sea after spending months docked for essential repairs.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth was pictured under the Forth Bridge after being docked at Rosyth for essential repairs and upgrades.

The Royal Navy warship was due to take to the North Sea for Nato’s largest mission since the Cold War, but a fault to the propeller shaft was discovered in February.

The mission, named Steadfast Defender, took place in Norway, and was instead led by sister ship HMS Prince of Wales.

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In March, the ship set sail from Portsmouth to Rosyth, but now, after months of repairs, the Navy's largest ship has "completed her defect repair".

A Royal Navy spokesperson told the UK Defence Journal: "HMS Queen Elizabeth has completed her defect repair work and capability upgrades at Rosyth and will now undergo a period of sea trials to prepare for future tasking."

The ship, which can carry up to 40 aircraft, and is equipped with a flight deck, chapel and medical centre, weighs 65,000 tonnes and is capable of travelling at more than 25 knots.

While moored at Glen Mallan on Loch Long, Argyll and Bute, earlier in March, HMS Queen Elizabeth had suffered a fire in an accommodation area, which the navy said was “quickly brought under control”.

The Earl of Minto, a defence minister of state, previously said the issue on the carrier was not thought to be as serious as the propeller shaft defect that led to nine months of drydock work on Prince of Wales.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth passes under the Forth Bridge as she heads back to sea following lengthy time at Rosyth for repairs and upgrades due to mechanical fault | Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS

On the fire at Glen Mallan, a Royal Navy spokeswoman said: “An isolated fire in the accommodation area of HMS Queen Elizabeth was quickly brought under control and extinguished in the early hours of Saturday.

“We take the health and safety of our service personnel extremely seriously and are conducting an investigation to understand the cause of the fire.

“This will have no impact on HMS Queen Elizabeth’s current programme and the Royal Navy continues to fulfil all its commitments.”

A Red Arrows flypast – that saw the skies painted red, white and blue – had been the prelude to an impressive display of pomp and pageantry that had officially marked the structural completion of the first of two Queen Elizabeth-class carriers ­commissioned by the Ministry of Defence a decade ago.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth in motion following the completion of repairs at Rosyth | Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS

Such was the size of HMS Queen Elizabeth, with her four-and-a-half acre flight deck – which allows F35-B Lightning II fighter jets to take off every 30 seconds – that it was impossible for one aspect of the time-honoured ceremony to be carried out.

Omitted from the occasion was the launch itself. The Forth is not deep enough accommodate a vessel of HMS Queen Elizabeth’s size sliding down a slipway and such a 
manoeuvre would have created a tidal surge.