British aircraft carrier to set sail from Norway

HMS Prince of Wales has completed a period of maintenance in Stavanger, Norway, and is prepared to continue Operation Firecrest, the ship’s company announced on Saturday.

Posted to X, the carrier’s official account confirmed stores had been taken on and that the ship had remained “operational at all times” during the period alongside. The message closed with: “The Nation’s Flagship is good to go for the next phase of Operation Firecrest.”

Maintenance complete. Store ship complete. All done whilst remaining operational at all times. The Nation’s Flagship is good to go for the next phase of Operation Firecrest. Standby for Lightning ⚡️✈️🇬🇧. pic.twitter.com/vMo1e15O8J

— HMS Prince of Wales (@HMSPWLS) June 6, 2026

The stay in Stavanger had been extended to address what the MoD described as “a minor technical issue” identified during the carrier’s port visit. “HMS Prince of Wales is currently conducting a port visit to Stavanger as part of the Carrier Strike Group’s deployment across the North Atlantic and Arctic, we expect her to set sail in the coming days,” an MoD spokesperson said.

Operation Firecrest was announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the Munich Security Conference on 14 February 2026. The deployment sends the UK Carrier Strike Group, led by HMS Prince of Wales, across the North Atlantic and into the High North in response to increased Russian naval activity in the region. The government has said the operation will involve major exercises alongside the United States, Canada, and Northern European allies, including partners within the Joint Expeditionary Force.

The deployment includes exercises alongside NATO’s Standing Naval Maritime Group 1, which the UK is leading throughout 2026, with the Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon serving as the NATO maritime group’s command ship. The government has cited a 30 percent increase in Russian navy vessels in UK waters over the past two years as part of the justification for the deployment, alongside broader concern over the security of critical undersea infrastructure such as fibre-optic cables and energy pipelines in the North Atlantic.

HMS Prince of Wales returned to Portsmouth in November 2025 following Operation Highmast, an eight-month Indo-Pacific deployment during which the strike group conducted over 1,000 sorties and engaged with more than 30 partner nations.

The turnaround before Firecrest was around four months, considerably shorter than the year or more typically required by US nuclear-powered carriers following a comparable deployment. The carrier sailed from Portsmouth on 24 April, embarking Merlin and Wildcat helicopters before heading north, arriving in Stavanger in mid-May ahead of the Dynamic Mongoose exercise.