The first of two Queen Elizabeth-class supercarriers for the Royal Navy will be commissioned into service by early 2017, making the legendary Royal Navy that ruled the waves in its heyday a force to reckon with on the world's oceans once again.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth, which is named after the reigning monarch, will be the Royal Navy's first aircraft carrier in over 30 years. She's also the largest warship ever built for the Royal Navy.

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The HMS Queen Elizabeth is a few months from sea trials and is expected to be fully operational by 2020.

Her sister ship -- the HMS Prince of Wales -- is scheduled to be launched around 2017. She will be commissioned in 2020 and enter service thereafter.

Together, both supercarriers will restore the Royal Navy to her proud place as an arbiter of the oceans. With them, the United Kingdom will reclaim a powerful capability to fight at sea and attack targets under water and on the ground.

The sharp end of both supercarriers will be their squadrons of Lockheed Martin F-35B Joint Strike Fighters purchased from the United States. These supersonic stealth jets will take-off from a ski jump on the port side of the flight deck.

The F-35B is a Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) configuration of the original F-35. The ski-jump will allow F-35B's to do rolling takeoffs with heavier weapon loads and achieve greater ranges.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth and the HMS Prince of Wales can each carry up to 40 aircraft: 36 F-35s and four helicopters. The F-35Bs are expected to begin flying from Queen Elizabeth in 2018 with a carrier air wing fully operational by 2020. Their pilots will come from the Fleet Air Arm.

During normal operations, however, the HMS Queen Elizabeth will carry 12 F-35Bs plus a number of AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin medium-lift helicopters for anti-submarine and utility duties.

Both supercarriers will also have the ability to launch and recover Royal Army helicopters for air strikes and air assaults, including WAH-64 Apache attack helicopters; CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters and AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat anti-submarine warfare helicopters.

TagsQueen Elizabeth-class supercarriers, Royal Navy, HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Prince of Wales, United Kingdom, Lockheed Martin F-35B