Overview
- HMS Prince of Wales, which left Portsmouth on Friday, began workups for Operation Firecrest under NATO’s Arctic Sentry mission.
- It will lead the UK Carrier Strike Group in the High North and North Atlantic with US, Canadian and other allied ships to safeguard undersea cables and pipelines.
- HMS Queen Elizabeth returned to readiness after prolonged repairs at Rosyth for a propeller shaft coupling defect found in early 2024, leaving both UK carriers available for operations.
- The carrier sailed with a crew of about 900 and an initial air group of Merlin and Wildcat helicopters plus Malloy drones, with training in home waters before loading ammunition in Scotland.
- Royal Navy planners link the deployment to a reported 30% rise in Russian naval sightings near UK waters over two years, and the 65,000‑tonne carriers project F‑35B jets from ski‑jump decks built for quick takeoffs.