Russia on Thursday mocks Britain’s brand new HMS Elizabeth II aircraft carrier, saying it was above all a “convenient target” for Moscow’s forces.
The Russian defense ministry describes as “arrogant” comments by British defense minister Michael Fallon, who labeled Russia’s only aircraft carrier the Admiral Kuznetsov as “dilapidated” and said Moscow would look at the UK’s new vessel “with a little bit of envy.”
Fallon’s comments “prove a clear lack of naval knowledge,” ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov says in a statement.
“Unlike the Admiral Kuznetsov, which is equipped with anti-aircraft and anti-submarine missiles and especially Granit missiles to hit ships, the British aircraft carrier is nothing but a big, convenient target in the sea,” he adds.
“With this in mind, it is in the interest of the British Royal Navy not to show off the ‘beauty’ of its aircraft carrier in open waters any closer than from several hundred miles.”
HMS Queen Elizabeth, a 280-meter (919-foot), 65,000-ton vessel, is the largest and most powerful ship ever built for the Royal Navy and set off for its first sea trial on Monday. It cost £3.0 billion ($3.8 billion) to build.
Tug boats maneuver the 65,000-ton British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth on the Firth of Forth in east Scotland, on June 26, 2016, after escorting it out of its berth in Rosyth Naval dockyard to begin sea trials. (Andy Buchanan/AFP)
— AFP
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