HMS Prince of Wales will shortly arrive in Scotland to ‘bomb up’, loading ammunition and supplies so the vessel is able to deploy operationally.
The aircraft carrier left Portsmouth this week, not long after the recent return of her sister from repairs in Scotland.
The image above was taken by the talented Dave Cullen; check him out here.
The 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier is heading to Glenmallan in Scotland for a routine logistics visit. Since the jetty was upgraded, sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth has previously visited the Northern Ammunition Jetty at Glen Mallan near Faslane.
According to a news release on the upgrade work:
“We awarded a £67m contract to VolkerStevin in 2019. Alongside them, we worked with managing agent Jacobs, which provided engineering and professional services, as well as designer Arch Henderson. In completing this major project, £20m was spent with local suppliers and small and medium enterprises in Scotland. The jetty was last upgraded in the 1970s and had reached the end of its economic life. The upgrade work has not only extended the life of the jetty by an estimated fifty years, but has also made the site accessible for the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.
In fact, HMS Queen Elizabeth visited part way through the work, back in March 2021, in preparation for her first operational deployment. This was not originally planned but became necessary when the scale of the ship’s deployment increased, presenting the team with a challenge to make the jetty operational in time for her arrival. Everyone involved, from DIO, VolkerStevin, Jacobs and the various subcontractors worked closely together to enable HMS Queen Elizabeth to berth at the unfinished jetty, which she did successfully.”
In other news, the new Labour Government recently confirmed that the Royal Navy’s Carrier Strike Group, led by HMS Prince of Wales, will be deployed to the Indo-Pacific region in 2025. This announcement reaffirms plans laid out under the previous Conservative Government.
In a parliamentary question asked by James Cartlidge, Conservative MP for South Suffolk, on 17th July 2024, the status of the deployment was queried.
Luke Pollard, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, confirmed on 25th July 2024 that the Ministry plans to proceed with the deployment. “Yes, the Ministry of Defence plans to deploy HMS Prince of Wales to the Indo-Pacific in 2025,” Pollard stated. Earlier this year, under the Conservative Government, former Defence Secretary Grant Shapps highlighted the strategic importance of such deployments. He detailed that sending HMS Prince of Wales to the Indo-Pacific was intended to send a strong message against any attempts to undermine the rules-based international order.
“In an increasingly volatile world where we can no longer take peace for granted, it’s critical to stand united with our allies and partners in defence of democracy and freedom,” Shapps had said.
HMS Prince of Wales will lead the UK Carrier Strike Group in a series of operations and exercises, including a port visit to Japan. The mission is designed to enhance defence relationships and demonstrate UK commitment to the Indo-Pacific. Shapps had noted the significance of joint exercises in conveying the UK’s readiness to respond to global threats and support free trade and travel.
This deployment follows the precedent set by HMS Queen Elizabeth, which led the 2021 Carrier Strike Group on a journey covering 55,000 nautical miles from the eastern Atlantic to Japan and back.
During that deployment, the armed forces engaged diplomatically with over 40 nations, underscoring the importance of maintaining a global naval presence.
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Stupid question – do all major surface vessels have to sail to Glenmallan to load ordnance or can frigates load at Portsmouth/Plymouth?
YES !!🙂
On Navy Lookout we are told how few frigates we have but we are sending a carrier strike group to the other side of the world??
Perfectly possible with a couple of T45, Astute, Tide, T23 and a NATO or other ASW asset.
The bigger problem is Fort Vic. I see that being solved using VERTREP with Chinooks (and a tanker of WD40) and a lot of port visits to use tele-handler replenishment.
We still have all the other pieces and our allies have some too.
Training and practice are needed to prevent skills fade.
May as well use what we have to its best ability.
Agree, good experience for the good people onboard, and it’s a bloody warship with warship escorts, it sort of says… Here we are… God bless all the lasses and lads on all our ships..
T45 is not incapable. It is a very impressive platform.
Will soon have surface to surface and land attack added to it.
Astute is excellent.
T23 is a superb platform if only it wasn’t falling apart.
Do you think there will be an astute available, they are stacking up against the wall at present.
Obviously there must be ….
Why are they stacking up? Think longer term not immediate term. You want a sub/subs available for CSG25 so get the maint done now including any long lead time upgrades. Also you will need subs to cover the UK when they are in the Far east so do the maint for those now. CSG deployments have a 4-5 year planning cycle. You need to ensure ships and subs are available not just to deploy but also to cover the UK commitments whilst away, so you plan in dockings and refits years in advance. The next CSG deployment will already be… Read more »
It’s almost like the only hostile power in the North Atlantic with a large and threatening submarine force just went on a war of conquest and some bright spark in the navy thought, hey good idea, let’s not send the precious few SSN’s we have on a series of largely irrelevant missions around the world but keep them back at home so they can be used in the North Atlantic should the balloon go up. 😀 I’m sure if there was a major issue keeping our entire SSN fleet at home we would have the Telegraph and Daily mail screaming… Read more »
We really have had a torrid time keeping our SSN fleet operational..it’s a mix of the Devonport docks needing massive recapitalisation and the SSBN fleet needing huge amounts of dock time to keep them running…basically last time I read up on this there were the following issues: 1)10 dock in Devonport is in the middle of being rebuilt to modern standards to take future SSN and SSBN refit work. 2)9 dock in Devenport is permanently turned over to the long refit of the vanguards. 3)14 dock is in the middle of being rebuilt to become a decommissioning dock. 4)15 dock… Read more »
none of that explains why all the SSN’s have been sitting in port. There has been much speculation but only ones was waiting for a dock according to the first sea lord last year.
The USA and Russia have identical problems to us regarding maintenance backlog. Nuclear Submarines are not easy for anyone.
Chinas problems are even worse.
Additionally, the two prospective floating drydocks at Faslane?
I was watching “The Downing Street Years” again yesterday. Love her or hate her (valid reasons either side), Thatcher said that there are two kinds of people: 1) Sees the downsides and difficulties of getting something done. 2) Sees the opportunities. There are plenty of NATO assets that can help us in the North Sea. That’s a problem for later. We have 48 F-35B end of this year. Wasn’t the complaint that we didn’t have aircraft? We may struggle for numbers at home, but our military is no deterrent if we can’t use it. People moan and complain about our… Read more »
Were we not the only other nation that put an anti air warfare destroyer in harms way in the Red Sea at the start and were we not the only other nation that bombed the Houthis?
How is our credibility damaged? What more were you expecting, perhaps an invasion of Yemen woukd prove our metal.
It’s the fact that we weren’t quite ready to step in for the Americans by sending a CSG. That came probably a year too early.
A few Typhoons from Akrotiri isn’t nearly the same.
Seeing POW decked out with aircraft and British escorts will return some badly needed pride and respect with defence.
ATM, the American carrier fleet has to do everything. They’re having to cover the ME, Atlantic and Pacific by themselves.
That’s one of the factors emboldening China. They’re now approaching a blue-water navy the same size of ours (their brown water navy makes most of their numbers).
Why would it be our responsibility to step in with a carrier strike group in the Red Sea.
We pulled out of all commitments east of Suez in 1971 nearly half a century ago.
I don’t think the Americans or anyone else was expecting the UK to ever send an entire carrier strike group to the area.
*Permanent commitments East of Suez.
We still base operations from Akrotiri.
It’s not like the Gulf War or Iraq War never happened or we aren’t allied with Saudi Arabia.
I don’t think that a British Prime Minister would publicly speak about easing the load on the Americans if it wasn’t in the real of possibility either.
I think it’s a bit more of an issue than that Gun, our Nuclear fleet is having a bit of a crisis of ship lift and docks at present which seems to be murdering the refit and maintenance schedules…some of our SSNs have now been against the wall for 2 years and we have had long periods of time with no SSNs deployed. Last time I read up on this there were the following issues: 1)10 dock in Devonport is in the middle of being rebuilt to modern standards to take future SSN and SSBN refit work. 2)9 dock in… Read more »
What he is saying is you don’t knew why those SSN’s are along side. Your speculating it is because there is a problem with maintenance and crew but you have no information that there is a problem because the navy hasn’t told anyone there is a problem.
They may be there so they can be quickly surged in the North Atlantic where they are needed.
3 Astutes have been inactive for more than a year. There is something wrong with them or its down to the facilities.
Or their keeping them in reserve
They’re not keeping them in reserve when one of them hasn’t left Faslane for 2 years.
There have been plenty of expert articles on the issue of keeping the SSNs operational and the fact we don’t have any out of the water docks for the SSNs at present….everyone knows there is a problem because everyone can see all the docks are in in bits and being rebuilt….no docks no maintenance..no operational boats, it’s not rocket science and clearly the RN/HMG are not going to come out and say directly…sorry no SSNs today…as we’ve only got one out of the water facility running and that’s supporting the SSBNs…..but everyone can see and there are plenty of experts… Read more »
Navy outlook says one Astute waiting for a dock and no known reason for the other four. I trust them more than anyone else in the media.
Everyone else is speculating it is man power shortages or maintenance back logs but with zero evidence.
Multiple years sitting around is not “reserving” them incase of Russia or anything like that, it is clearly inactive boats one way or another.
There was an informative NL article describing redevelopment of dry docks at Devonport, and perhaps the proposed floating drydocks at Faslane. Need to search for article(s).
.
It’s seems you are answering someone else I said nothing of any of this, put the bottle down and read again…
Perhaps USNS (fill in the blank appropriately). Have any trials of this type been attempted? Are any USNS compatible, w/out utilizing VERTREP?
It’s important to show china there are other none US carrier groups available to the west…we are likely to see a steady train of European carrier battle groups into the pacific over the next 2 years…Italian, French and then RN.
In 2025 it’s probably more important to show America there are other carrier group available to the west.
I can’t see either a Harris administration that’s anti military or a Trump administration that’s anti foreigner being great for the western order. CSG 25 shows the US people that they do have valuable allies and the alliance is worth maintaining.
Trump talks tough to get his way as a negotiating stance, but remember his words on the China threat from a decade ago, which he was mocked for. It’s not just a Trump stance. Allow me to explain, as this may sound convoluted. Ukraine is a proxy war for China as well. If Putin falls, China are boxed in. It’s within their interest to prop up Vlad. China are pumping out a new carrier every year or two and have a blue water navy approaching the same size as the RN and expanding (the rest of their numbers are brown… Read more »
My point is China is well aware of its limitations against the collective west, given its geographical limitations it’s almost impossible for China to start and win a war against the west in the exact same way Germany was unable to do this in the 20th century. The only real threat to the collective west comes from a US withdrawal and a reversion to long running US foreign policy pre 1949. This is why we fought in Afghanistan, this is why we are sending a a carrier strike group to the pacific in 2025. American politics is very dangerous to… Read more »
I wholeheartedly agree with your point on American politics, but we can’t just look at China in isolation. Iran, Russia and China have all buddied up to tripwire the West simultaneously at a few inflection points. A China conflict in Taiwan would cost the global economy $2.6 Trillion. All of the world’s most advanced chips are manufactured in Taiwan. For example, Jaguar Land Rover could only produce at 40% capacity after COVID because of chip shortages. It would affect the economy more than the GFC. We can’t look at that in isolation either. Russia invading Ukraine was part of their… Read more »
Russia, Iran and China are three natural enemies. They don’t really have anything approaching an axis and what cooperation they do have is largely over their perceived beef with western hegemony.
Russia only very recently sold S400 to Iran despite Iran wanting it for a long time and China has done almost nothing to assist Russia in its war with Ukraine.
Russia pulled troops from all its western boarders but kept soldiers in its boarder with China.
The Ukraine War would’ve been over 18 months ago if not for China. China are single handily propping up the Russian economy and supplying them with tech + FX.
1973?
The Yom Kippur War between Arab states and Israel. It triggered an oil crisis. In Western Europe, there were queues outside of petrol stations and literally not enough fuel to go around. 3 day work weeks to save energy.
The increase in gas price during Ukraine is child’s play in comparison.
Thanks, did not realize the economic impact on Europe of the ’73 oil embargo.
Why do you think Harris would be anti military?
Hopefully a bit more defensive armaments and decoys will also make an appearance on these carriers soon too! Obviously the Suez passage and Gulf area need to be kept open for CSG 2025 and any transit to the Indo Pacific. There might be an Astute at the other end already.
I would have thought that it would be more appropriate to send a QE to assist our American friends in the Red Sea to defend Merchant shipping against Houthi attacks?
CSG 21 spent considerable time in the Med engaging ISIS. It’s likely CSG 25 will do much the same in the Red Sea.
Bombing up isn’t just stuff going whoosh and bang. All armament items are listed in the Armament Warrant onboard. An armament item has a NATO stock number with a letter A in front of the class group identifier. It also list UID items (Useful to the ill-disposed) that you don’t want people to have but they dont go whoosh or bang. Things like rifles, shrikes, drill/dummy weapons, Cascos. So, whilst missiles rockets, bombs, and bullets will be taken on there will also be all the other “A” class minutiae as well to top up. Spares for close range weapons and… Read more »
When are we going to use our carriers for the purpose. The current situation in the Middle East is the perfect opportunity to showcase Britains capacity to project power across the world as well as deploy the necessary forces to an ever increasing unstable region. I’ve been hearing there are plans being put in the place in the event of an evacuation from Beirut. Having a carrier in the Mediterranean would provide the perfect location to launch helicopters off
US is starting build up forces to defend Isreal from a looming strike from Iran and its proxies. Government will need to decide how far it will go on supporting US forces and Isreal. Carrier could be a UK component should the engagement between Isreal and Iranian proxy group becomes a prolonged.
seriously hope uk carrier does NOT get involved with an iran isreal conflict. think isreal would have to agree immediately to 2 state solution and UN agreed territory for any western support.
Agree Let Iran proxy run the new Palisinian state they will be able to build much more significant military presence to keep Isreal.in check.
Given the dearth of Aircraft, escorts etc that are available and gearing up for CSG25, I don’t think we will be getting deeply involved. We are maintaining 2 warships in the Gulf plus the MCMVs so that’s probably about it.
Also our new Government is far more European leaning in its thought process than previous ones were. So keep our deployment as it is, do what we can for humanitarian aid and keep Cyprus safe.
Agree. If Iran overruns the middle east it’s not our concern.
It will be an ongoing concern if international freight and oil can’t or can’t safety transit through the Suez and Gulf into the Indo Pacific.
Yes, depending upon near-term events and escalations, it may become too hazardous to risk a CSG in the eastern Med (proximity to Lebanon and Hezbollah AShM), Suez Canal/Red Sea Gulf of Aden, in addition to SCS. It would be catastrophic to lose a carrier during what will purportedly be a defense diplomacy/training exercise mission. Once all Astutes are operational, the T-26s are available, T-45s have received all planned upgrades, munitions stocks have increased, F-35B has matured and numbers have increased, etc., the RN could reasonably consider sending a CSG in harm’s way. In the interim, suggest routing around the Cape… Read more »
I really think we should be concentrating on the battleground should if ever come to it in our local area. But that said keeping strong ties with allies like Japan is important too.