Royal Navy: HMS Prince of Wales to leave Portsmouth for major North Sea deployment - when

HMS Prince of Wales will be departing HMNB Portsmouth on Saturday morning and will lead a UK Carrier Strike Group. The 65,000-tonne warship will be completing her autumn training programme - including Exercise Strike Warrior.

Sailors, pilots, engineers, and the rest of the ship’s company, will be put through their paces so they’re prepared for their deployment to Japan and the Indo-Pacific region next year. HMS Prince of Wales’ will initially sail to Cornwall - depending on the weather - to qualify her air wing, before heading to the exercise area off the coast of Scotland.

F-35B Lightning jets from joint Royal Navy/RAF 809 Naval Air Squadron and 617 Squadron will embark on the carrier. The exercises will involve a multinational naval task force of warships. Personnel from 809 NAS will deploy with a Queen Elizabeth-class carrier for the first time, after the unit was created at RAF Marham in Norfolk at the end of last year.

They will join the 617 ‘Dambusters’ and form a front-line stealth fighter formation during the exercises. Pilots will be operating the fifth generation F-35B Lightning jets. The exercise will allow for 809 NAS pilots to achieve carrier qualifications by operating during the day and at night. Engineers, technicians and armourers will learn how to support the fighters while dealing with challenging conditions at sea.

Wildcat helicopters from 815 Naval Air Squadron, based at RNAS Yeovilton, will also be deployed. The attack aircraft will test their Martlet missiles to defend the ship. HMS Prince of Wales has been carrying out Operational Sea Training this summer, returning to Portsmouth from trials last Friday. Once Exercise Strike Warrior is complete, the aircraft and Carrier Strike Group staff will disembark and HMS Prince of Wales will continue with her winter programme including a final support period in Portsmouth ahead of the Carrier Strike Group 2025 deployment.