However, HMS Prince of Wales will be mothballed and kept as a reserve vessel.

BBC: Section of HMS Queen Elizabeth carrier

Work on the Queen Elizabeth's sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, is also under way at Govan.

BBC: Carrier section being moved

Major dredging of the harbour is needed to accommodate the ships HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

BBC: Drilling rig dredges Portsmouth for aircraft carriers

The vessels, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, will be the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy, nearly three times the size of the current Invincible-class carriers.

BBC: Third strike by shipyard workers

As part of its defence spending review in 2010, the government decided to "mothball" one of the two aircraft carriers, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Queen Elizabeth, ordered by Labour.

BBC: Joint Strike Fighter planes (file pic)

The aircraft carrier is the first of two 65, 000-tonne ships under construction in Scotland, with work on her sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, also under way at Govan in Glasgow.

BBC: Section of HMS Queen Elizabeth carrier

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg had earlier told workers at Rosyth, that by safeguarding the contract for HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, thousands of jobs in Fife and on the Clyde had been secured.

BBC: Aircraft carriers spared in defence cuts