HMS Prince of Wales anchored off Lyme Regis

The ship arrived on Wednesday, May 5 some point in the middle of last week and left on Friday, May 7.

Harry May, who runs Harry May Boat Trips, had taken a family fishing when one of them, Sam Lightbody, was to snap these photographs.

The images were taken when Harry May took a family on a fishing trip Picture: Sam Lightbody A ROYAL Navy aircraft carrier has been anchored off Lyme Regis this week.

He said: "She was anchored up five miles south of Lyme and still looked huge from the shore.

"When the ship left last Friday, I was fishing three miles away with a family of five, one minute she was there, the next just a dot on the horizon.

"For some of the pictures, I wanted to get my boat in such a position as to show Lyme under the bow because this is history - the Prince of Wales is brand new aircraft carrier and will be in service for 50 years."

The HMS Prince of Wales is one of the most powerful surface warships ever constructed in the UK.

The HMS Prince of Wales was anchored five miles south of Lyme Regis Picture: Sam Lightbody

She first launched in December 2017 when she was floated out of Rosyth Dockyard in Scotland.

Her flight deck is 70 metres wide and 280 metres long – enough space for three football pitches – and she holds 45 days’ worth of food in stores.

She has a crew complement (minimum crew) of around 700, increasing to around 1,600 with aircraft onboard and can embark 36 F-35B and four Merlin Helicopters.