Well, my cynical friends.... you should take note... from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth-class_aircraft_carrier
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HMS Queen Elizabeth, was named on 4 July 2014, with her ship commissioning planned for 2017
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and
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an initial operating capability expected in 2020.
The second, HMS Prince of Wales, is scheduled to be launched around 2017, followed by commissioning in 2020 and service thereafter. On 5 September 2014,
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The difference between "comimissioning" date of 2017 and "operational" date being the time it takes for the crew to assimilate and train up to operational standards. None more so, than the pilots who will be flying from and back on to, those carriers...
For those interested, there are plenty of videos ( albeit american ) of how difficult it is to actually land on a carrier, and some interesting articles too, ...
I spent 2 years on HMS Centaur, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Centaur_%28R06%29
and often spent time on the flag deck, watching, and admiring the skill, of the pilots take off and land, during daytime and night time, and in some very difficult weather conditions too,.... not an easy task..
View this video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20KQrfwAI_o
. not taken by me, but I was there at the time, and the video shows the view I would have had ( and I remember the loading of the helo`s with the marines for that operation too)...( see my "great adventure" thread ).
.. and don`t forget, the Centaur class was a small "light" carrier designed during the latter stages of WWII. so therefore the technology and the sheer (small) size of the flight deck and its operations made it so much more difficult, compared to how it will be for the new pilots, on the new carrier..
i belive we get 1 and other one is in cotton wool and mothballs 