Hundreds gather to welcome giant aircraft carrier ship

Hundreds of people have lined the coast to view a giant US aircraft carrier arriving for a five-day visit.

The 100,000-tonne ship USS Theodore Roosevelt has anchored off Stokes Bay, Gosport, Hampshire, as it is too big to sail into Portsmouth Harbour. The promenade was packed with visitors wanting to get a glance of the 1,092ft-long carrier which is affectionately known as the Big Stick.

The ship, which is making its first port of call in its round-the-world deployment, is substantially larger than the Royal Navy's next generation of carriers which weigh in at 65,000 tonnes.

More than 5,000 sailors are set to swamp Portsmouth during the visit, giving a boost to local businesses.

The visit forms parts of an ongoing partnership between the Royal Navy and US on carrier operations until the first of the new carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth, enters service in 2017.

Senior officers will call on Royal Navy top brass during the visit to discuss recent global operations and get an update on the UK's carrier programme.