Overview
- HMS Queen Elizabeth sailed from Portsmouth on Saturday, September 5, beginning a three-month deployment around the UK and northern Europe with more than 800 sailors aboard.
- The carrier assumed NATO’s Afloat Command Platform role in July and will embark a battle staff to practise commanding and integrating allied ships and aircraft during the deployment.
- Queen Elizabeth has just completed a multi-phase refit that included major propulsion upgrades and an eight-month dry-dock period in Rosyth, work that underpins her return to operations.
- The deployment features intensive training under Fleet Operational Standards and Training (FOST) and may include participation in Exercise Atlantic Thunder, a possible joint SINKEX with the US Navy off Scotland in mid-September.
- Training and multinational rehearsals will continue into 2027 as the Royal Navy prepares Queen Elizabeth to replace HMS Prince of Wales as the UK’s high-readiness strike carrier and to operate with new uncrewed jet-powered aircraft funded by the Defence Investment Plan.