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. 

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 parody suggested that the new super-carrier would come with an astonishing price tag of £987.6 billion, which is nearly 20 times the budget of the Ministry of Defence and over 300 times the cost of the most expensive surface vessels ever constructed 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’.” 

It further alleged: “Prince Andrew is anticipated to measure 480 meters in length and will have the capability to deploy an estimated infinity-hundred aircraft — granting it a theoretical superiority over any existing carrier fleet, whether real or fictional.”

George Allison, the website’s editor, explained to The Sun: “In line with our annual April Fools’ tradition, we released an obviously humorous piece about an imaginary third aircraft carrier named HMS Prince Andrew, featuring ludicrous elements like racing 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.