AUGUSTA - The British Aircraft Carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth has arrived in the waters off Sicily for a short stopover before it continues on its trip to the Pacific Ocean. HMS Queen Elizabeth, the biggest ship of the Royal Navy, was flanked by a Carrier Strike Group fleet, that includes seven ships, a submarine, a Dutch frigate and a United States Destroyer.

  The shipleft Portsmouth on May 22 and is heading through the Middle East towards the Pacific where the Carrier Strike Group will take part in the Bersama Lima exercises to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Five Power Defence Agreements, signed in 1971 between the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia.

  HMS Queen Elizabeth's stopover in the port of Syracuse is happening in virtue of the relationship between Italy and the UK at the heart of NATO, particularly in light of the recent series of bilateral and multilateral exercises also involving the carrier FS Charles De Gaulle of the French Navy and Italy's destroyer Andrea Doria.

  "It is with great enthusiasm that we visit Sicily," said Queen Elizabeth's captain, Angus Essenhigh. "Augusta is our first destination since departure from Portsmouth. The choice reflects the close ties between our two navies, but also the fact that the UK and Italy are NATO partners, engaged in security in the Mediterranean and beyond."

ol