[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] - It is the first time that a UK aircraft carrier is supporting live military operations on the ground in over two decades, projecting British military power on a global scale.
- Royal Navy carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, a $5billion ship, is taking on the 'lion's share' of operations in Iraq
- Commodore Steve Moorhouse said the UK is carrying out most of the missions to wipe out remnants of ISIS
- US forces are instead focusing on withdrawing its remaining troops from Afghanistan after two decades
- Russian warplanes have also been keeping tabs on state-of-the-art F-35 jet aboard the 65,000-tonne ship
The HMS Queen Elizabeth and its support ships, which include the US destroyer The Sullivans, departed the UK in May for its first operational deployment in a move that was set to outrage Russia and China.
The carrier will remain in the eastern Mediterranean for two to three weeks before moving through the Suez Canal to continue with a seven-and-a-half-month deployment to India, South Korea and Japan.
The $5billion warship, with eight RAF F35B stealth fighter jets on board, left for Asia on May 24 accompanied by six Royal Navy ships including HMS Defender and HMS Diamond, a submarine, 14 naval helicopters and a company of Royal Marines.
The flagship also has 10 US F-35 jets from the Marine Corps' Fighter Attack Squadron 211 aboard that carry out operations under British command.
The Carrier Strike Group will visit India, Singapore and then to Japan via the South China Sea. 
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