The captain of HMS Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s new aircraft carrier, warned journalists before its maiden voyage across the Atlantic not to write anything negative or he would bomb them.

It was a joke, but it would have been an empty threat. He could not bomb anyone even if he wanted to. The Queen Elizabeth is an aircraft carrier without any aircraft.

The trip across the Atlantic is intended to address this. The Queen Elizabeth is scheduled to leave Portsmouth on Saturday evening for the US, where two F-35s will be flown on to its deck for the first time.

The planes belong to the US Marines but it is almost certain, for patriotic reasons, that the first landing will be made by a British pilot.

About 500 test flights are expected to be conducted over a period of two months. There will be four test pilots: a Royal Navy commander, a squadron leader from the RAF, a civilian test pilot and a major from the US Marines.

The two F-35s will be handed back to the Americans before the Queen Elizabeth returns to the UK.

Testing of British F-35s on the carrier is scheduled to begin next year. By the time the Queen Elizabeth deploys in 2021, the plan is that it will be carrying a squadron of British-bought F-35s, about 12 in all. The US Marines will fly a squadron of their own from the carrier.

The Queen Elizabeth has been repeatedly criticised as too expensive, an outmoded concept and an inviting target for advanced missile systems. But the captain, Jerry Kyd, said the existence of the Queen Elizabeth and its sister carrier, the Prince of Wales, had raised the UK up the naval league, turning it once again into a medium-sized sea power.

The flight deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth, an aircraft carrier with no aircraft (yet). Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA

He said the threat from Russia had increased as it engaged in an “eye-watering” amount of activity in the Atlantic, and China was expanding its navy.

An option for the Queen Elizabeth’s first deployment is the South China Sea. Asked by a reporter about China viewing this as provocative, Kyd said: “China has its own aircraft carriers being built. They have got one at sea now. They certainly recognise and are investing in aircraft carrier strike capability very quickly. They are expanding to be a blue-water nation after thousands of years without that capability.”

The Queen Elizabeth could operate in the South China Sea alongside American and Australian vessels. “We recognise the importance of operating alongside partner nations to make sure we will operate and maintain the rule of law at sea,” Kyd said.

The carrier will be sailing to the US in the hurricane season, and Commodore Andrew Betton, who commands the taskforce of which the Queen Eliizabeth forms the core, said they were alive to the possibility that they might be called to help with any relief efforts.

The carrier is expected to be stationed on the coast of Virginia and Maryland, but will also make a trip to New York, anchoring off Manhattan.