The first commanding officer of the HMS Queen Elizabeth has described taking command of the air carrier as "a special moment".

Captain Jerry Kyd took over the UK's future flagship at Rosyth Dockyard in Fife on Tuesday.

He said maritime warfare has "changed very little" since the Battle of Jutland, when Royal Navy battle cruisers launched from Rosyth 100 years ago next week to enforce a British blockade during the First World War.

The Queen Elizabeth will be equipped to deal with future threats including unmanned aircraft, robotics and cyber attacks, however.

Mr Kyd said: "As a naval officer I always want more ships and more aircraft carriers but I can't see in the foreseeable future two more ships of this scale being built in the United Kingdom.

"Of course, we have built this ship with a 50-year lifespan so unless there's a turnaround or any course that you never predict with world events, I think this is a truly seminal moment for Scotland and indeed the entire country who have come together to bring this ship together.

"It's a very special moment and the British public should be extraordinarily proud of British industry for having the know-how and the skills to put this ship and the HMS Prince of Wales together."

HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, which is still under construction at Rosyth, are the largest surface warships ever constructed for the UK.

Mr Kyd said HMS Queen Elizabeth will be tasked with "protecting British maritime power around the world wherever the government needs it".

He added: "That's all up for debate and discussion over the coming years but the world is a turbulent, changing, dynamic place so I can't predict exactly where we will be.

"Navies are still about projecting power around the world, dominating the oceans, making sure there is free trade.

"Sea lanes are the arteries of the world's global economy. If you cut trade, you cut countries off and it's a disaster.

"We're seeing a rapid change in technology. We're seeing militarisation, robotics, the new domain of cyber and what that means in terms of the digital frontier of warfare.

"But we've designed this ship with a whole host of innovations and very high spec technology which will hopefully proof her to take advantage as those things develop."

"I predict that manned aircraft will probably die away in the coming decades, we'll see more unmanned aerial vehicles, we will certainly see more robotics and much more competition in the virtual domain."