Portsmouth is now home to two aircraft carriers for the first time in a long time.

HMS Northumberland and RFA Tideforce also returned to warm welcomes in Devonport, say the Royal Navy. The ships’ flights made their way to their respective homes at RNAS Culdrose and Yeovilton.

It’s been a busy three months away for the Portsmouth-based HMS Queen Elizabeth which hosted British F-35 Lightning jets for the first time at sea as part of the WESTLANT19 deployment. Her sister, HMS Prince of Wales, is expected to be formally commissioned into the Royal Navy in the coming days.

Commanding Officer of HMS Queen Elizabeth Commodore Steve Moorhouse said:

“Homecomings are always a special occasion, but to be returning to Portsmouth, with HMS Prince of Wales welcoming us home makes this a particularly special occasion. Two of her escorts, frigate HMS Northumberland and tanker RFA Tideforce, returned to Devonport today.”

Image Crown Copyright 2019.

The ships flights also made their way to their respective homes at RNAS Culdrose and Yeovilton.

Image Crown Copyright 2019.

Commander of the Air Group, Captain James Blackmore, added:

“The five-week period of operational tests with UK F-35s from the UK Lightning Force was significant and historic. As the last pilot to fly Harrier from the deck of HMS Ark Royal in 2010, it filled me with tremendous pride to see UK fixed wing aircraft operate once more from a British carrier.”

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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56 COMMENTS

    • They truly are a fantastic sight Mike, they might be smaller than the giant US Carriers but they’re more advanced and better all round in my opinion…..no matter what the Americans might say.??????

      • I beg to differ. More advanced than an American Carrier? Please explain? I’m intrigued. The QE Class has limited range and a ramp. And it carries no fixed wing aircraft, only V/STOL. The QE Class Carrier is in the middle of: An (American Class) Amphibious Attack Ship and a Gerald Ford Class Carrier in terms of capability, firepower, and force projection!!!!! Indeed the QE Class is a fine Carrier but it’s limited in every spectrum.

  4. This is a proud picture, two of our new carries together at Pompy for the first time. To the doubter and cynics, I say, take a good look and remember these vessels are British through and through. It’s time to be proud and supportive of our fine Royal Navy.

    • Our enemies will not be impressed, and that’s what counts. They will be delighted that we have wasted our resources like this.

  9. I know HMS Queen Elizabeth is called “Big Liz”.(Really imaginative name!)
    What is the Prince of Wales called?
    The Magazine Private Eye called Liz and Charles “Brenda and Brian”

    • I wish the jounos would get their facts right, she was an Armoured Cruiser. HMS Invinsible and HMS Inflexible were Battlecruisers and completely out classed the German vessels, on that occassion at least. It might sound a bit pedantic but to call Scharnhorst a Battlecruiser under plays the odds the German crews were up against, and they fought bravely on the day.

      By the way, did you know there is a WW1 U-boat rotting away in marshes of the Thames estuary?

  12. One simple question, do we have the base code for the f35?

    If we still don’t it means we are not an independent country as we have no idea if the US could not the kill / deactivate switch if they didn’t agree with our actions, as was the case for early days of the Falklands, they only backed us once they realised we were not backing down (they were quiet willing to go against us until we forced their hands) which we would have been forced to if all our sea.bourne jets had been deactivated.

    • I’m pretty sure we do. We threatened to pull out and demand our funding back if the original deal / contract / agreement was not met i.e. we were given access as originally agreed with the US government as a tier 1 partner. The main stumbling block was a US senator. There is a piece about in the F35 retry on wikipedia…

  13. What a phenomenal sight!! Seeing those 2 beautiful Carriers together is fantastic for the Royal Navy and the people of Portsmouth, I’m extremely proud of our Armed Forces and it’s also good to see Northumberland and Tideforce back in Devonport. The South Coast is very lucky to have the majority of our Royal Navy and RFA fleet in their home towns, I wish I lived down there as I would probably go and see them every single day, living up on the East coast we have nothing like that here.
    Good luck to all the crews in our fantastic fleet and I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

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