Royal Navy: HMS Prince of Wales returning home to Portsmouth from Liverpool to prepare for major deployment

HMS Prince of Wales is sailing out of the Liverpool cruise terminal this afternoon (December 9) after being granted the Freedom of the City. The 65,000 tonne carrier will be gearing up for her deployment to Japan and the Indo-Pacific region in the Spring of 2025 - where she will take charge of a UK Carrier Strike Group.

The £3.2bn warship brought the curtain down on her eight-day stay in Merseyside by opening up to the public. Despite Saturday’s public viewing being cancelled due to ferocious weather caused by Storm Darragh, the crew hosted more than 5,000 people on Sunday. Cadets from across the forces visited the carrier from across Northern England and the Midlands.

“Just being on a ship is cool,” said 13-year-old William from Wakefield – one of ten Sea Cadets from West Yorkshire invited to represent their units. Cadets from from TS Galloway in Preston were challenged to decipher ten acronyms by their bosses such as “SE” or “AWW”. Luckily there were stances and displays hosted by every department on board to unpick such conundrums.

“This is my first time on a ship and it’s been great,” said 12-year-old James. His friend Thomas, also 12, added: “The size of the ship and the equipment aboard is just amazing.” Other youngsters hurled balls to knock bricks out of a virtual wall, with older guests trying their hand on the rowing machines.

The drone team from 700X Squadron were keen to show off their Malloy and Puma crafts they’ll take with them The Malloy quadcopter has been billed as a potential lifesaver in man overboard drills: launching the drone to drop a raft, life jacket/buoy or other aids.

Lieutenant Commander Neil Pitt, in charge of the flight deck team, used a scale model and replica jets and helicopter to demonstrate how they will marshal more than a dozen fast jets plus Merlin/Wildcats on the maiden deployment.

He said: “It’s like a giant game of Jenga or Tetris, moving the aircraft around safely from their slots on the deck – each one is given a ‘postcode’. We’ve learned a lot from HMS Queen Elizabeth and how they do things. There are only 29 handlers in my team – on a US carrier you’ll find 300. It’s been a great week, a really great reception, and a really good way to both relax but also show what we can do.”

The Liverpool visit concluded with 270 family members being invited on board ship for the voyage home as a thank you for their support. She is expected to be deployed for most of 2025.