Assault ship HMS Albion has transferred the duty of Royal Navy Fleet Flagship to aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.

As Fleet Flagship, HMS Queen Elizabeth will carry senior naval staff, receive foreign dignitaries, and act as a command and control centre for other Royal Navy vessels.

In the last few decades, the flagship has usually been an aircraft carrier but in 2010 the flagship became assault ship HMS Albion, assault ship HMS Bulwark in 2011, helicopter carrier HMS Ocean in June 2015 and then back to HMS Albion in 2018.

HMS Queen Elizabeth and her Carrier Strike Group will deploy to the Pacific later this year.

Prior to the deployment, it is understood that the carrier strike group will go through a work-up trial off the west Hebrides range sometime in early 2021.

It is understood that the deployment will see the Carrier Strike Group sail in the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf and end up in the Pacific before returning home.

The Ministry of Defence say that the Carrier Strike Group “offers Britain choice and flexibility on the global stage, reassuring our friends and allies and presents a powerful deterrent to would-be adversaries.”

British Carrier Strike Group heading to Pacific this year

You can read more about this deployment by visiting the article linked to here.

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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29 COMMENTS

  1. So, what’s the precedent here? There’s a Flag officer mincing around and a ships Captain trying to drive it around with loads of planes on top. Who’s the boss?

      • Quite.

        There is no confusion and it is very well understood who is in charge of what when. Has to be that way otherwise in the heat of battle confusion and conflict would reign.

        • Thanks all. As a “Pongo” I believe the term is, my only contact with the Navy was on a low flying sortie over SLTA in my 434 when we were flagged down by what appeared to be a submarine with a big gun. With hindsight maybe they weren’t the Senior Service, just the cavalry in a ditch!:-)

        • Absolutely.

          Too much to expect 1 person to captain a ship and command the wide task-group. Very different jobs that both require a lot of attention.

      • On the LPDs it was not uncommon for Invites to go out to the WOs and CPOs for dinner in the Flag cabin with the Commodore and Brigadier (land forces) which ultimately turn out to be entertaining affairs.
        The morning after Flag brief on one occasion was a sight to behold, baggy heads, people absent ( Brigadier) and its usually really really short in length for a change. Being a good and conscientious WO I attended in body if not mind!

    • Two Films Spring to Mind – Sink The Bismark and The Bedford Incident, where the Ship’s Captain has lets Just Say’ Company’

      • I live near Bedford and the first thing that popped into my head was that the river isn’t very big for a naval battle.

    • COMCSG ultimately. I assume still a part of the Fleet Battle Staff.
      QE is a fitting vessel for the senior afloat commander.
      What sort of C3 set up does QE have? I assume superior to thst of Albion?

    • In most cases bar deployments etc the Battle Staff will be pretty much reduced to admin staff onboard and the Admiral will be at Northwood.
      When on Bulwark as the Amphib Task Group Flagship and latterly Fleet Flagship the battle staff are never seen unless you are deployed.
      As most signal and email traffic is to a Command Title address it doesn’t really matter where you are , you still get the email and signal traffic on your computer.

      As to command and control as asked bellow I am sure QE will be as well equipped as the LPDs for strategic comms. What QE wont have is a massive OPS room with huge projection screens for afloat Amphib and land forces to be controlled from. It probably wont have as large a HF transmission capability for talking to ashore forces. It will however have better VHF/UHF comms than an LPD for talking to aircraft.

  2. It’ll be really interesting to see whether the Albion’s and Bay’s slot into the CSG after the inaugural deployment and if not what sort of separate amphibious group the RN can put together.

    • Alongside COMCSG there is also COMLSG. I’d hope that grouping will get similar emphasis, eventual replacement of the LPDs, and so on. Dare I say some dedicated escorts too, eventually.

      I dont what has happened to the plan for forward deployed groups. I guess ISDR will reveal.

      • I know this may seem like planning for failure but could they be seen as emergency landing pads for the F35 in the event the carriers are out of action? They won’t fit many but could at least save a few rather than have them ditch.

        • I’m sure if it was a literal choice between ditching a F35 in the water or doing a vertical landing on Albion or Bulwark (or any ship with a big enough flight-deck for that matter) then it would be the latter – and there is a sort of precedent with Harriers using Fearless & Intrepid as lily-pad’s in Falkland Sound to refuel rather than heading all the way back to the carriers in 1982.

          I believe the heat from the downward thrust would damage any flight-deck not specially treated (and even QE & PoW have specific landing spots which will have to be refreshed periodically) so it’s not something you’d want to try outside of an emergency!

    • Albion/Bulwark working alongside QE is not really a good idea. What would be better is if we could build a Ocean replacement such as a Canberra class. Amphibs get up close and personnal, the QE will need to stand off. I have said many times that we need to sort out the Amphib group, either 2 Albion replacements and a Ocean replacement or three Dokdo/Canberra type ships. The chepest Amphib group 3 Dodka type would cost about £1.5 billion the most expensive, three Canberra’s £3 billion a mix of LPDs and LHDs £2 billon. My suggestion would be two Dokdo types and one Canberra type costing about £2 billion.

      If my idea of the T32 would be used (mainmast forward T26,Mainmast aft Damen Crossover it would mean for my Anphib group an over the beach landing with four T32 escorts of 480 RMs, one Armoured Battle Group (Canberra type), two heavy Strike Groups with Boxers 40mm gun, or Ajax (Dokdo type).2800 men plus equipment in a beach landing. These would be supported by the Bays and Bay replacements. With support from the RFA of say three Bays a further two armoured battle groups could be landed with cross decking. Given a total of three armoured battle groups, two Striker Groups and upto 600 RMs. The total of troops and equipment is more than what we had in the Falklands for a first landing capability. It is almost 45% of the British Challenger force as first lift ability. My idea of Dokos and Canberra would mean airsupport of 14 F35Bs, 10 Apache’s and 26 Merlins for airlift plus the four LCACs RIBs and possible 12-20 CB90s as sea lift. QE and her group in a stand off postion would give most countries except the big three (China, Russia and the US) a bad hair day. Fanticy fleet, not really, cost effective force muliplyier yes. The complete cost of ships, airsupport, landing craft would be about £5.5 billion. Over a 7 year project is £786 million per year or £13 per person per year cheaper than a coffee per month from Starbucks.

      • Isn’t the speech given from sea lord moving us away from large scale amphibious action? Ie commandos going back to raiding, small actions, uavs for cover , high tec rather than mass invasion?

        • Andy, Hi, Yes the Sea Lord did say that the RM will revert to its original role of raiding, etc. That is why I gave the idea of a T32 with the front end of a T26 and aft of the main mast of the Daman Crossover. Crossovers are able to carry upto 120 Marines and three small landing craft or CB-90s plus some other things in a large mission bay. The Crossovers have from midships aft an open deck structure for vehicles. Depending on how we design the rear end it could have a hanger for two helicopters This type of vessel could be a general purpose warship as the front end would have the 5inch gun, 24 Sea Ceptors and 24 Mk41s. The reason I looked at Dokdo is that one they are fairly inexpensive, I seem to have seen figure of £250 million each. The reason for Canberra is that although quite expensive can carry a lot more equipment. The Spanish version seems to have cost about £500 million whereas the Aussie version comes in just under £1 billion. We need to remember that these vessels are not for the RM to go ashore from but the Army. We are an island nation to get troops and equipment ashore we might not always have a friendly dock to land equipment on. The Falklands come to mind. With the ships that I have suggested gives the Army the possibility to land upto 2800 troops plus equipment upto the Challenger II MBT by LCVPs LCACs and helicopters with limited F35B air support in a first wave. A follow on wave carried in the Bays or there replacements of a further 2,000 troops plus their heavy equipment means a landing of almost five thousand troops over the beach. The Bays would cross deck with the large Amphibs then go ashore.

          One should remember an old comment was that the biggest weapon the RN has is the ability to throw the Army ashore anywhere in the world it wants to.

          Possibly we should build the RN fleet to do three main tasks,
          1. Amphib operations with carrier support.
          2. Protect sea lanes.
          3. ASW.

          We are not going to fight fleet to fleet on the open seas any more, but a CSG would have that ability if need be. It should also be remembered that the UK does not have the finance to build specilised ships anymore. So the Dokdo’s and Canberra type vessels could be multi functionable. For example if we do not need to put the Army ashore they could be used as ASW Helicopter ships, Convoy Escort Carriers, large humanitarian platforms and I am sure the RN Admirals would find some other uses. Before someone shouts we will not have convoys anymore NATO will, America possibly even Canada would send troops and equipment in covoy to support Europe if things went wrong. You do not put a large carrier with a convoy a escort carrier yes with the large carrier standing off.

          The overall cost of such a ship building project would be as I mentioned £5.5 billion this includes the cost of the CB-90s, LCACs and extra aircraft/helicopters, 38% of this is returned to the treasury in direct tax and a further 20% in VAT on the things that the employees would buy. It would also give the Army to possibility to have upto five battle groups dedicated to sea lift ability.

      • The issue with a LPH is again with the limited range of the helos. Unless a stealth LPH can be built, which it could sneak close to shore to launch it’s helo’s.

        • Meirion, Morning, Both types of vessel better suited as I mentioned would be Dokdo and Canberra type vessels. They are LHDs, able to launch helicopters, being altered to be F35B capabile and can launch landing craft upto and including a LCAC. So it would give an over the horizon capability in a hull that is designed from the outset to operate in shallow waters. The issue with Albion and Bulwark although good ships for Royal Marines they have limited air capability and cannot carry heavy equipment to the shore.

        • Wish I did. However, when I look at ships planned to be built, or that in the next ten years that would need replacing then I’m not to far out. So for example the PM has spoken about the T32 and that the RN need a DDG/FFG of 24 ships, that gives 5 T32s whatever they would be. Albion and Bulwark will need to be replaced in the next ten years and I think the Bays would be coming to the end of their useful lives in the same period. So the only real extra would be either the third Dokdo type or the Canberra type. Then the extra for example CB-90s for the T32 however the Daman Crossover is designed for the LCVP which we also use. So that could keep the price down, as for the LCAC possibly we could get Griffon to make them with diesel rather than turbines.again reducing cost.

          I wish I could shake a money tree and get everything for the RN that they need, but I can’t so we have to make do with the finance situation we have and come up with ideas that are multi functional and cost effective. As we looked at the littoral base ship which seems to have gone nowhere the T32 that I propose is a good mix of frigate ability T26 forward of mast whilst having a good Marine detachment, 120 troops plus kit. The Dokdo as a replacement for the Albions again is a good compromise, costs about the same possibly even cheaper than a Albion replacement but can operate as a multi function platform rather than a dedicated platform as the Albion class is. So the only real extra cost is as I said £250 million for a third Dokdo type vessel upto £1 billion for a Canberra, or the £500 million for the Juan Carlos which has a lot of FFBNW. My recomendation is two Dokdo type and a Juan Carlos, this would give a cost of £1 billion for three LHDs. This third vessel would or could be seen as the replacement for Ocean. I have taking as a given that the T32 and the increase in numbers that the PM has spoken about would be included in the £16 or £24 billion increase to the MoD over the next five years.

  3. The skipper of QE is in command of the ship she is his or hers responsability. An Admiral is in charge of the group. Tactics and Strategy comes to mind. Overall the most important person in a CSG is the carrier Captain, he she might need to go out of formation to launch land aircraft, a escort will well escort. An Admiral, Flag officer will give an overall task.

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