Royal Navy: Italian aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi enters Portsmouth Naval Base as another ship also arrives

The Giuseppe Garibaldi is first through-deck aviation ship ever built for the Italian Navy and the first Italian ship built to operate fixed-wing aircraft, but is much smaller than the Royal Navy's two carriers – with the Giuseppe looking a lot smaller than HMS Queen Elizabeth which is still in the city. This afternoon (February 15) the Giuseppe Garibaldi has been be joined by the San Giorgio, an amphibious transport dock designed to carry a battalion of troops and up to 36 armored vehicles.

Their arrival comes after HMS Prince of Wales left Portsmouth on Monday (February 12) to lead Exercise Steadfast Defender with the UK Carrier Strike Group, the largest Nato mission since the Cold War. Both Italian ships are expected to follow her to participate in the same exercise featuring 90,000 troops from all 31 NATO Allies. HMS Prince of Wales took the place of HMS Queen Elizabeth who was originally due to lead the Exercise. But a mechanical fault on the propeller shaft coupling discovered during "pre-sailing" checks meant it was unable to go. She is now expected to travel to Rosyth for repairs.

Pictures by Ian Grainger and Alex Shute.