Particle.news
Download on the App Store

HMS Prince of Wales Returns to Portsmouth as Carrier Strike Group Declared Fully Operational

The eight-month Operation Highmast validated the carrier group's readiness for NATO duties.

Overview

  • The carrier entered Portsmouth at about 1:15 p.m. after transiting The Solent past the Isle of Wight.
  • Arrival was brought forward by a day because of forecast heavy winds, according to local reports.
  • HMS Dauntless and Norwegian frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen accompanied the flagship on the homecoming transit.
  • The deployment covered roughly 40,000 nautical miles with exercises involving more than 30 nations across the Mediterranean, Middle East, south-east Asia and the Indo-Pacific.
  • A Royal Navy spokesperson said the UK Carrier Strike Group is fully operational and ready to assume NATO duties, as thousands of personnel were reunited in what officials called the biggest naval homecoming in 20 years.