Royal Navy: HMS Prince of Wales joins with American task group on her way to huge Nato wargame near Norway

THE Royal Navy’s biggest warship ever built has joined forces with an American task group at sea ahead of a huge Nato exercise in the Arctic.

By Tom Cotterill

Published 12th Mar 2022, 16:38 BST

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HMS Prince of Wales left Portsmouth earlier this week to join Exercise Cold Response in Norway.

The drill will involve some 35,000 military personnel from 28 nations – including the United States.

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HMS Prince of Wales, top, pictured with the USS Mount Whitney

HMS Prince of Wales, top, pictured with the USS Mount Whitney

And on the way to the Arctic, the 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier joined up with the USS Mount Whitney task group currently in European waters.

Currently the flagship of the US 6th Fleet, USS Mount Whitney serves as a command ship for top military officers.

The role is similar to HMS Prince of Wales, which is acting as the flagship for Nato’s maritime high readiness force – an international task group formed to deal with major global events.

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American sailors join their British counterparts on HMS Prince of Wales's huge flight deck

American sailors join their British counterparts on HMS Prince of Wales's huge flight deck

The ship took to Twitter to share photos of the historic link up and said: ‘On our way to #ColdResponse22 we took the opportunity to meet up with the @USSMountWhitney task group.

‘Proud to host them on board for a quick visit before we went our separate ways.’

The aircraft carrier was joined by Portsmouth-based destroyer HMS Defender, which is also due to take part in Exercise Cold Response.

HMS Prince of Wales will be the first of the navy’s two new Queen Elizabeth-class carriers to operate in the Arctic.

Leading Airman (Aircraft Handler) Josh Thomason was excited by the warship’s Arctic adventure. Speaking before HMS Prince of Wales left Portsmouth, the young sailor said: ‘I’m looking forward to operating in the extreme cold weather.

‘We are prepared as a team to operate with different aircraft in these harsh conditions and are looking forward to the challenges this will bring.’

Captain Steve Higham, commanding officer of HMS Prince of Wales, said it was a ‘great source of pride’ to be working with Nato and added: ‘As we sail to meet up with other Nato units taking part in Cold Response in Norway, the team in HMS Prince of Wales is ready to deliver as a command ship for Nato in the most challenging of environments.’

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