Royal Navy: Imperious HMS Prince of Wales joins forces with huge Italian flagship ITS Cavour on vital exercise

Royal Navy flagship HMS Prince of Wales joined forces with ITS Cavour as a pair of strike groups joined up for as range of drills. The week-long operation - Exercise Med Strike - started last week and involved a behemoth force of some 21 warships, three submarines, 41 fast jets, 19 helicopters, ten patrol aircraft and 8,000 personnel.

Commander Nick Smith, Commanding Officer of 809 Naval Air Squadron (NAS), said: “Ex Med Strike affords the opportunities to prove force integration both within the air and maritime domains, learn from one another’s approaches to carrier aviation, and demonstrate Carrier Strike capability within NATO.”

A major part of the exercise was deploying British and Italian F-35 Lightning jets over the Ionian Sea. Day and night-time flying operations were carried out in the Mediterranean skies. Ships and below-surface vessels tested anti-submarine tactics in the waters between Taranto and Sicily.

617 Squadron and 809 Naval Air Squadron are both deployed with their F-35 jets aboard Prince of Wales and were busy throughout the seven days. ITS Cavour Deputy Air Wing Commander, Captain Gian Battista Molteni and 617’s Executive Officer, Lieutenant Commander Joe Mason, worked together in the Italian ship’s flying control centre.

Lt Cdr Mason, second in Command of 617 RAF Squadron, said: “I am thrilled to work alongside my Italian colleagues and see how they control, launch and recover F-35s from the tower. We are stronger together, and combined training makes us more effective and more lethal for the future.”

Exercise Med Strike was a collective test of the two-carrier force’s air defence skills. Threatening drones had to be fended off during the drills. Captain Colin McGannity, who commands all in the air power in the UK Carrier Strike Group as Commander Air Group, said: “Working together with allies is critical to what we do. We are stronger together, so we work hard to make our combined operations seamless.”

Type 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless carried out a replenishment at sea task with Norwegian tanker HNoMS Maud, transferring 300,000 litres of diesel. HMS Richmond conducted gunnery training – keeping the ship sharp and accurate – while also taking part in various other serials during the ten-nation Med Strike.

Two Commando Merlin helicopters from 845 Naval Air Squadron flew to Palermo in Sicily to pick up Edward Llewellyn, the British Ambassador to Italy and San Marino, for a visit to Prince of Wales. The Commando Helicopter Force aircraft also carried out flying operations in the Mediterranean, including sorties over Southern Italy.

Undeterred by a Russian “intelligence gathering vessel” monitoring her earlier this month, HMS Prince of Wales will be leading the UKCSG towards the Indo-Pacific region via the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Various military drills and diplomatic port visits will take place in Japan, Australia, and elsewhere. It’s expected that Royal Navy sailors will return home to Portsmouth this Christmas.

Over the course of the deployment, upwards of 4,500 British military personnel will be involved, including nearly 600 RAF and 900 soldiers alongside 2,500 Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines.