A GIANT navy aircraft carrier - the HMS Queen Elizabeth - is in Weymouth Bay.

According to the Royal Navy she is their largest and most powerful vessel, capable of carrying up to 40 aircraft.

A spokesman from Portsmouth Naval Base said that HMS Queen Elizabeth is on her way back to Portsmouth after being in America.

"She has been taking part in extensive aviation trials and various other engagements," he added.

"She has stopped off in Weymouth so that part of a squadron from Yeovilton air base can disembark before heading home to Portsmouth."

Commanding officer of HMS Queen Elizabeth, commodore Steve Moorhouse, said: “This has been an extremely successful deployment for HMS Queen Elizabeth.

"It’s all been about increasing the complexity and tempo of our activity, building the capability of the strike group and testing ourselves in a demanding training environment with our close partners from the US Navy and Marine Corps."

According to the Navy, the aircraft carrier has been overseas for three months, during which time she hosted British F-35 Lightning jets for the first time at sea, 'loaded with the weaponry it would typically carry on a strike mission: 22,000lb of destructive and defensive power.'

Captain James Blackmore, commander of the Air Group, added: "The five-week period of operational tests with UK F-35s was significant and historic.

“As the last pilot to fly Harrier from the deck of HMS Ark Royal in 2010, it filled me with tremendous pride to see UK fixed wing aircraft operate once more from a British carrier."