Royal Navy: HMS Prince of Wales to leave Portsmouth shortly after HMS Queen Elizabeth arrives - when

HMS Prince of Wales is due to sail out of the Prince’s Royal Jetty at 11am. According to the King’s Harbour Master (KHM) shipping movements, she is scheduled to sail past The Round Tower in Old Portsmouth with a tug escort alongside her. She will then proceed to the NAB tower in the Solent at 11.51am.

HMS Prince of Wales is heading to Scotland where her ammunition is kept and then will complete a short period at sea before returning to her home port of Portsmouth.

A Royal Navy spokesperson confirmed: “The aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales is preparing for sailing to Glen Mallan in Scotland for ammunitioning ahead of future operations. As ever, sailing will be subject to suitable tide and weather conditions.“

Her sister ship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, returned to her home port Tuesday evening after spending several months in Rosyth, Scotland - where repairs were made to fix a starboard propeller shaft misalignment fault. HMS Prince of Wales has been in Portsmouth since March 26 after being at the head of a UK Carrier Strike Group.

Multiple vessels were deployed as part of Exercise Steadfast Defender - Nato’s largest operation since The Cold War. She replaced HMS Queen Elizabeth after the mechanical fault was discovered in February. Her crew only had a short amount of time to prepare for the intense training regime - joining operations alongside more than 30 ships, submarines and over 20,000 personnel

The 65,000 tonne aircraft carrier was also a part of Exercise Joint Warrior off the coast of the UK. Since her return, sailors have been working on the vessel carrying out routine tasks. She is scheduled to be deployed to Japan in 2025.