RUSSIAN state TV fell for an April Fool’s story about a new aircraft carrier named HMS Prince Andrew.
Broadcaster Russia Today published claims that Britain was buying a trillion-pound super carrier armed with “infinity jets” and crayons.
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The spoof was originally published the specialist website the UK Defence Journal alongside a joke about inflatable warships.
The story was peppered with clues it was fake including the author’s name, Avril Fuller, a twist on April Fool.
The spoof claimed the new super-carrier would cost a staggering £987.6 billion – almost 20 times the MoD budget and more than 300 times more than the most expensive surface ships ever built for the Royal Navy.
It claimed the ship would have have go-faster stripes and extra crayons to speed up planning.
But the jokes were lost on Moscow as state broadcaster RT ran the article under the headline “Britain to expand navy due to Russian ‘threat’.”
The spoof also claimed that: “Prince Andrew is projected to measure 480 metres in length and will be capable of deploying an estimated infinity-hundred aircraft — giving it a theoretical edge over any known carrier fleet in existence, real or imagined.”
The website’s editor George Allison told The Sun: “As part of our usual April Fools’ Day tradition, we published a clearly satirical piece about a fictional third aircraft carrier – HMS Prince Andrew – complete with absurd details like go-faster stripes and crayons.
“It was meant to be obviously fake, and it was written to make people laugh.”
He added: “A Russian state media outlet picked up the story and presented it as real.
“It’s easy to laugh, but it also points to something important: how easily disinformation can spread.”
The Royal Navy’s real aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales are the largest and most expensive surface ships ever built for UK forces.
They are 280 metres long and cost £3.2billion each.
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