HMS Richmond, a frigate assigned to HMS Queen Elizabeth’s Carrier Strike Group, has been welcomed to Karachi, Pakistan.

As a representation of the ‘Indo-Pacific tilt’ in the UK’s foreign policy, the Carrier Strike Group made its maiden deployment in May 2021 and has conducted operations and engagements in the Mediterranean and the Indo-Pacific.

The Strike group will travel over 26,000 nautical miles from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, from the Gulf of Aden to the Arabian Sea, and from the Indian Ocean to the Philippine Sea, engaging with 40 countries. This deployment will end in December 2021.

Besides HMS Richmond, the Strike Group comprises aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, Type 45 destroyers HMS Defender and HMS Diamond (although this ship has had recent issues), Type 23 anti-submarine frigate HMS Kent, and tanker and storage ships Fort Victoria and RFA Tidespring.

In Addition, there’s an Astute class submarine, an American destroyer and a Dutch frigate.

You can read more about that the Carrier Strike Group has been up to by visiting the link below.

Where has HMS Queen Elizabeth’s strike group been?

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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79 COMMENTS

  1. According to the USNI News website the USS The Sullivans has left the CSG and returned to national tasking. Full article here.

    Cheers CR

    • The Dutch frigate I think has left as well, wondering if they would get some replacement escorts for the trip home.

      • An Astute is also currently visiting Western Australia. Would like to think an allied SSN is with the carrier group as I can’t imagine the RN has another of ours East of Suez.

      • Are they still needed? If the group is heading home there’s little need for ballistic missile defenses, which seems the be the unique capability those two brought.

    • Thought it said it will leave over the coming weeks. I’m assuming that means it will not escort all the way back to UK.

  2. Has HMS Diamond been given a green light yet or is she still alongside in Singapore. With the US and Dutch escorts out of the picture and Astute flying the flag in Australia we will have to be contented with 2 Frigates and a Destroyer to make sure CSG makes it home OK.

      • That’s good news, did the powers that be give any indication of what had gone wrong with her.
        I was begging to thing the CSG was going to finish its last leg with a couple of remotely operated speed boats for escorts.
        The initial reports back in May were that the US and the Dutch were in for the long haul IE their escorts were to finish the deployment before being released back to their respective nations. I wonder why they have left early. That just leaves the USMC and their F35s, may be they will fly of mid Atlantic then ship the deck crews home later.

        • It will have been long planned for those vessels to head off at the planned time. They don’t follow the carrier all the way to the English Channel. Escorts break off to carry out there own tasking. Just like the RN Escorts have taken part in different taskings and port visits All 6 escorts are not glued to the carrier for the whole 7 months.

          • Hello Robert,
            I understand the escorts have their own agenda as well but it was well reported back in May that all the escorts were going to be part of the CSG on the outward legs as well as the homeward legs, I do believe that there are still a couple of legs left.
            Just wondering if there are some underlining politics involved.

          • The Sullivans has been at sea longer than any ship in the CSG. Their deployment started in Florida, not the UK. 10 months later, they have to go. The ship has a laundry list of maintenance items to be handled.

            A destroyer and two frigates is plenty in peace time. US carriers often sail the Atlantic with no escorts at all.

          • US carrriers are pretty much always escorted by one or two cruisers, a full squadron of destroyers and two SSN’s.

          • Nope they are not.

            USS Carriers may get that on a deployment but on return legs and transits home they are lucky if they get a single AB or Tico and whatever lies beneath.

            For the USN a Squadron of destroyers is anything greater than 1 …Using that adage then the CSG has a squadron of frigates and destroyers with it…which it doesn’t.

        • As far as I’m aware, there has been no official statement as to what happened the second time. Sources appeared to confirm it was nothing to do with engines or power, but as I said, there has been nothing released to back up the claims.

      • May be, or the US destroyer has been replaced by a US SSN or 2 as our massive fleet of SSNs are a bit thin on the ground at the moment.

      • SSN’s are not a lot of use in the shallow waters of the Med.

        T23’s are the ideal tool for the job in those waters.

      • All the talk about which sub it was going to be escort when in the Med, was HMS Artfull, and surprise surprise, HMS Astute turns up in the Indian Ocean!

  3. Just read awesome quote from Pres Biden about the US’s ‘oldest, closest and most decent ally’ hope everyone grabs the chance to read it.

      • LOL. Many, possibly most, of the soldiers who beat up on the US in the war of 1812 were Canadian.

        Canada’s oldest ally, despite its significant francophone minority, is Britain. Canada remained loyal to the crown, and are a polite, respected nation without an enemy in the world. They don’t have the abiding guilt of slavery or the endemic racism of their southern neighbour. They have universal healthcare, abide by the UN’s charter on children’s rights and never lost 2.5% of their population in a civil war over an issue that had been settled within the British Empire decades previously.

        England’s oldest ally is Portugal. An alliance that stretches back 600 years. They are there for us, and we for them. No more needs be said.

        If you want your closest ally to be the one you end up calling cheese-eating surrender monkeys, perhaps you need to revisit your choices.

        • Well said about Canada. Portugal may be our oldest ally but she doesn’t show any evidence for it these days. She’s a commited member of the EU. These days those 2 facts look increasing contradictory.

        • Morning Jon. Indeed Canada remains close to the UK and I predict she will be the last Commonwealth nation to abandon the Crown after Charles inherits the throne although much of the tradition-red coated Guardsmen and the like will remain. Anglo’s are now a 30% minority in Canada and the demographic is rapidly changeing in NZ and to a lesser extent Australia.
          As for Portugal-agree with David. We haven’t had much to do with them militarily or politically for many years and of course our refusal to allow them use of our bases in Cyprus when India marched into Goa 50 odd years ago, didn’t help!
          ps I know it was England up to just over 300 years ago but inasmuch as Portugal is our oldest ally should not the ‘our’ refer to the United Kingdom now considering that England ceased to be a stand alone nation in 1707?
          Regards from Durban

          • Points to ponder…
            I think Nelson said England expects …every man etc…
            The white ensign is a Union flag within the flag of St George

          • Yes – even Nelson could have done with a bit of correction, too! 😉
            The Kingdom of England (including Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland voluntarily extinguished themselves in 1707 to form a new single unitary state called the Kingdom of Great Britain.
            In 1801 that became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (now Northern Ireland).
            But I’ll let Nelson off, Paul, “The United Kingdom expects . every man etc …” doesn’t quite have the same dramatic ring about it!

          • “England” as a substitute for the United Kingdom is a habit that persists and that should be avoided even when Nelson says it!! The St Georges Cross in the White ensign is also referred to as a Naval cross and still used in many Commonwealth Navies including India! A suggestion made in a Flag Institute publication that the cross should be blue thus combining the colours of Scotland in the cross of England is I think a good one and certainly more equitable.
            Cheers from Durban

          • England is not a substitute for the United Kingdom. England is England….as in England soccer team, England rugby and cricket teams, NHS England, fhe Church of England, the English language, English Law and so on. England is that nation state which came into being in 927AD at Eamont Bridge in Cumbria when all the Anglo Saxon kingdoms pledged their allegiance to Aethelstan as king of all England and Constantine king of Scotland and the princes of Wales and Strathclyde acknowledged his overlordship.
            The United Kingdom as a political entity was formed when a Scottish Lords had to be bailed out by the English banks. There was no universal suffrage in 1707. Nothing good happens when you sell your soul for money or try to impose a foreign culture e.g. Ireland. De Gaulle was smart enough to get out of Algeria. The rest as they say history.

          • Hi Paul. I think you have misunderstood me entirely. I am well aware of the history of England. What I meant was that many people both in England and abroad continue to use the words ENGLAND and BRITAIN or the UK as synonyms which really irks me. Yanks(god bless them) talking about England’s Queen Elizabeth or England leaving the EU etc etc. Even historically like Cecil John Rhodes saying to be born English is to win first prize in the Lottery of life blah blah. The United Kingdom has the most shambolic structure in flags,symbols and the institution of Union of all the worlds nations. England is the only nation in the Union without its own Parliament!! The Union Jack has no symbol for Wales,the Royal Standard in Scotland gives the First and Forth quarters to the lion Rampant whereas in England they are given to the Lions passant! It seems to occur to NOBODY to give the Forth quarter to Wales and solve the design for everyone!! English fans singing GSTQ when playing Scotland singing the FOS!! St Andrews Cross in a pale blue but in the UJ a deep navy blue. Queen Elizabeth is FIRST of the United kingdom-not Second of anything since the Union of the crowns in 1606 The list is endless!!

          • Sorry Geoff. You pressed an early morning button there. 😂
            I think we are pretty much on the same page.

          • Hi Geoff – I largely agree.
            There was no formal union of the crowns in 1603.
            Instead, there was a personal union of three kingdoms (England, Scotland and Ireland) under one man – James the First, or James the Sixth. Take your choice !
            A personal union between the Stuarts and the three kingdoms remained in force until 1707.

            There really was no “English Civil War” in 1642-49 either, it is now more accurately called the War of the Three Kingdoms.

            Today’s Elizabeth is indeed the first sovereign of that name in the United Kingdom.

            But there was once another Elizabeth the First – but in a long extinct kingdom called England! 😉

          • Yes Paul-De Gaulle of “Vive Le Quebec libre” fame.After the humiliation of Indo-China and despite the vastly better odds in terms of geography and population in Algeria, De Gaulle was realistic enough to recognise that France could not hold on to Algeria, so despite several assassination attempts and the best efforts of his treachorous generals, Algeria left the French empire along with the rest of their African possessions. The British also wised up early and in the spirit of the “Winds of Change” reality bowed out of Empire with as little trouble as possible. i left the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland just before Smithy took over 56 years ago almost to the day!!

            cheers from Durban

          • “The United Kingdom as a political entity was formed when a Scottish Lords had to be bailed out by the English banks” .

            Hmmm, you’re rehearsing rather dodgy history, though, Paul.

            Great Britain was formed in 1707 – the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (now Northern Ireland) was formed in 1801.

            I find it difficult to describe any early medieval state (certainly not one in 927AD) as a “nation state” – at that time, if you asked a man from the British Isles to describe his identity: he might state that he’s from a village, or a family, or Christian, or perhaps he might be associated with a regional identity – ie a Northumbrian. A modern sense of national consciousness was really a much later development.

            Constitutionally the two separate Kingdoms of England and Scotland voluntarily extinguished themselves in 1707. In business terms – they agreed a merger. Today these old kingdoms remain only in a cultural form. For instance, we have decided to organise parts of the UK’s health service as – “NHS England” or “NHS Scotland” – or “NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde”. We can call them anything really!

            Elizabeth isn’t Queen of England, or Queen of Scots – she reigns over a single unitary state called the United Kingdom. That’s the name of our country.

            Today, England and Scotland are simply a state of mind!

          • Not so much a state of mind as of heart. As I see it and experience it, Scotland is a.’bottom up’ society where a strong +ve sense of community aggregates into a +ve sense of national identity. Scottish people are proud of their country and proud to fly the Saltire. By contrast England is very much a ‘top down’ society, not so much a community as an archipelago of competing clubs and Trusts the biggest of these clubs being the conservative party. The English are reluctant to fly the cross of St George in case they are thought to be members of the BNP or inebriated soccer fans. Their sense of themselves is -ve. England committed hara kiri in the Glorious Revolution because the national ( self inflicted) wounds of the Reformation and Civil war had not healed. We were on our spiritual uppers. They are only now healing, following the re-interrment of Richard III. Brexit is really the resurgence of a +ve sense of English national identity. In its wake it will bring significant constitutional change. You know yourself that the road signs in the Highlands are in Gallic just as they are Gaelic in much of NI where Westminster is about to impose formal recognition of Irish cultural identity long repressed by the Orange Order. As my grandmother used to say, what’s in the marrow can’t be taken out of the bone. Things are changing for the better. When William Duke of Cambridge ascends the throne order will be restored. Through his mother he carries Stuart blood.
            The Union will survive. Walter Scott had it right in Ivanhoe, The Normans inflicted great cruelty on the English which the Scots escaped. Princess Margaret of Wessex took the grace and learning of the Wessex line north of the border for safekeeping. She is reputed as having brought good manners to the Scottish court when she married Malcolm, becoming Saint Margaret, pearl of Scotland for her efforts. The spirit she gave birth to in Scotland has enabled Scotland to keep England afloat for a thousand years.

          • Thanks for your interesting comments, Paul.

            I agree that Brexit was probably due to some resurgence in a sense of English national identity. Or perhaps it was a typically cussed English reaction when being told by experts what to do! Although the Welsh did also vote for Brexit – and almost one million Scots (their views completely unrepresented by the Scottish political class).

            If we really are seeing a resurgence of national identity, it is ironically happening when we have never been more homogeneous on these islands. As I see it, there is really no linguistic, religious or cultural differences today between the home “nations”.

            You may see Gaelic on some Scottish road signs in the Highlands – but there are relatively few speakers, and if Lowland Scots really wanted to resurrect a dying language – we would probably have plumped for Auld Scots (aka Doric English). Gaelic was last spoken in south-west Scotland about 1, 000 years ago – and even then it was the Welsh version of Gaelic!

            If we are to avoid damaging secession crises on these islands, maybe we need to celebrate our common history, culture and identity – and avoid emphasising somewhat miniscule differences.

          • Each one of the nations within the UK needs to come to terms with itself. This is what is happening now; the opening up of old wounds so that they can be cleaned and healed. We are seeing this everywhere: in Afghanistan the Taliban are mellowing; in Ireland sworn enemies Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are in coalition. Even the Tory party is acquiring a social conscience thanks to covid and Brexit.
            One of the things that distinguishes humans from animals is the ability to change yourself. The UK is very fortunate in not having a written constitution. Just passing new laws in parliament can create a new UK.
            Had to laugh at your comment on miniscule differences. Some years ago ( pre Brexit) I heard a story of a German university mathematics lecturer who applied for a job in Aberystwyth and was somewhat thrown when he learned that he would be expected fo teach ‘through the medium of Welsh’. 😂

          • Scotland’s oldest ally is probably France, hence my use of England. It would have undermined my point a bit! 😊

        • However…
          I have a Canadian friends from my time at NATO. They have 1st Nation heritage and the scandals emanating from Canada about the treatment of 1st Nation children in the past and the RCMP attitude to disappearances of some 1st nation women over the years is appalling.

          • True. No nation is without its original sin. Some of the things I read about Canadian maltreatment of first nation people is depressingly recent. The hundreds of unmarked graves in religious schools that operated right up to the end of the twentieth century is creepy as heck.

          • Quite sickening really.

            Although it in no way takes away from the horrors of what was done: there were religious orders all over the world going things that were effectively the same.

      • Clinton, Bush Jnr, Obama, Trump and now Biden. Do you see a pattern ? Guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. Do you remember Blair and his ‘Blood price’ Maybe if we paid in more blood we’d be more ‘decent’

        • Hi David, We’ll need to see how Biden’s presidency develops – but I don’t feel any great concern about how the others that you mention engaged with the UK.

          Ultimately, governments have common interests – not friendships. And I do feel strongly that actions are more important than mere words.

          For instance, this thread is about Carrier Strike Group 2021. The United States has been very supportive in our regeneration of this capability. It’s good for the UK – and it’s also good for the US Navy.

          • Och – I see you’ve added a wee extra bit, David!
            Yes, I remember Blair’s remarks about – ‘Blood price’. But those are the comments of a British Prime Minister – not a US President.

            Perhaps misguidedly, Blair saw diplomatic advantage in aligning the UK with Bush’s Iraq adventure. But I hold Blair responsible for that decision – not the American President.

            A US President is allowed to practice diplomacy – and say nice things about other countries (even France!) We must avoid the tendency to act like a jealous lover 😉!

            But while we watch the Biden/Macron bromance – the US continues to support the British nuclear deterrent, and continues to co-operate on intelligence matters.

          • If I’d added more I’d have found more to agree with before I posted it ! I’m not going to repeat some of what I said before. But I am seriously not jealous of France ! As far as Iraq and Afghanistan are concerned I wish the positions had been reversed. To finish. My anger is also at those who delude themselves into thinking the US leadership of either party have anything but contempt for their ‘special relationship’ and that sending there fellow citizens to die is a worthwile price for there fantasy.

          • I have no problem with the US military but I have a very big problem with the US political class. You say you don’t have any problem with the Presidents I named. I’d suggest you need to read more. For Clinton and Biden I’d suggest N.Ireland. For Obama I’d suggest Falklands and Gibraltar but generally he just hated this country. For Trump it was less personal he is a sociopath and treated everyone equally badly. Bush Jnr is probably the least guilty as he is almost certainly retarded. Mostly I blame Blair for the blood price. But above all of those I blame the tiny number of people in our political and media elite who peddle the ‘special relationship’ bullshit that has killed hundreds of my countrymen fighting for a state whos political leaders despise and ridicule my country.

          • Hi David

            If I remember Clinton’s presidency, he actively supported our government’s efforts that led to peace in Northern Ireland. And he also led military interventions that ended European wars in Bosnia and Kosovo. All were in the British national interest.

            Obama worked well with David Cameron, and stated that he found Gordon Brown a good partner after the great financial crash of 2008. Indeed he supported Brown’s calls for a co-ordinated international response. That was in the British national interest too.

            The “special relationship bullshit” didn’t stop Harold Wilson side-stepping British involvement in the Vietnam war, despite the entreaties of Lyndon Johnson.  

            I can’t claim that I like everything a US President does – but I feel one should take a balanced view.

            It’s been a quiet night – so thanks for giving a simple Scotsman the opportunity for some musings on UK/US relations ! 😉

    • Their oldest ally is France…if a politician made such compliments on third party territory or in general passing you might believe it. When it comes as you welcome them at the door….blah.

      A close ally, yes
      An old ally, yes….
      Special relationship…a few agencies yes…but certainly not at the political level.

    • France is usually referred to as the US oldest ally as without the dozen ship of the line’s that gained naval supremacy along the coast, the army and all the weapons they supplied they would have lost the war. Though the US betrayed them, one of the conditions of the treaty with France was that the US wouldnt make peace with Britain until Spain had recovered Gibraltar and Florida and neither France, Spain or the US would make peace without the agreement of the others…

    • Biden is just flattering Macron after the USA and UK took advantage of the fact that the French had screwed up the submarine contract with Australia. The French are still peeved which is why they’ve created this bogus fishing crisis.

      Fact is countries like France and Germany are envious of not being able to join the Anglo centred Five Eyes. Even with AUKUS, the Australians aren’t getting the degree of nuclear technology sharing the UK gets from the USA. Not to mention the UK was the only Tier 1 partner in the F35 programme.
      These are the special relationships that matter, not the musings of a here today, gone tomorrow, politician.

      • Sean wrote:

        The French are still peeved which is why they’ve created this bogus fishing crisis. 

        I actually checked the UK Gov website regards the above and i found that the Gov published the details of exactly how many licences were issued over a month ago and those stats are:
        Applications from the EU = 1715
        Licences issued by the Uk = 1680
        Applications rejected = 35
        Licences issued to France = 736

        if you follow the link to the website, if you click on the link as depicted at the bottom right of my screen dump it will take you to a page where you can download the actual list of what ships (and by country) which have received licences.

        • Yup, HMG issued licences to every French fishing boat that could prove a history of fishing in British waters as per the agreement. Boats are supposed to record in their log-books where they have been fishing under EU regulations. So the 35 rejected applications were either for boats that had not been fishing in U.K. waters, or they were for boats that had been fishing illegally.

          The French are playing politics.

      • Macron is having an election its suits him to pick an argument with UK. He has lost Merkel an maybe influence with EU and understandably perhaps losing the sub deal was loss of face. How he handled the sub affair looks increasingly childish.

        • He’s also trying to take-over Merkel’s mantle as the dominant national leader within the EU. But if the U.K. lodges a formal protest and the ECJ finds for the U.K. against France then he’s going to look ridiculous to his own voters.

          • Not ECJ thank god. There’s an independent adjudication process. EU pushed hard for it to be ECJ this shows why it would have been a very bad idea.

    • It’s always worth remembering that nations do not have friends or moral compasses in the same way as people. They have interests, sometimes these align with other nations for a time, sometimes they don’t, sometimes nations follow a foreign policy that is focused on enlighten self interest other times they use power and coercion.

      The who special relationship makes me laugh, before the great rapprochement almost all Americans consider the U.K. to be their natural enemy’s and had a very high degree of hatred on the American side. This Anglophobia still existed even in the mid 20c with many portions of the American population and could be seen in things like some key military Leaders such as USN fleet admiral king who hated the British much that it’s widely acknowledged he put the war in the Atlantic at risk. This body of Anglophobia exists to this day and the US did it’s very best to destroy any chance of the U.K. maintaining its place as a superpower/Empire after WW11.

      Thats not to say the US has not been a great support of maintaining and protecting western liberal democracies, but it has done this like every nation for its own self interest and it works closely and well with the U.K. in the 20c for the same.

      Now general the U.K. is the king of pragmatic/enlightened self interest, but for some reason we are utterly blind to that fact that this is the only thing that binds us to the US and we seem to somehow think two nations can be close friends and morally bound together in love.

      • Can’t disagree with one sentence of that. It seems to have found a home in the Democrats and is violently pro IRA/Eire and equally violently anti UK. Biden is the highest profile member but far from the only one.

        • Yes, always support joint working and that enlightened self interest, but the nation that puts its defence and future in the hands of a second nation will always find itself left in the cold one day..Ukraine is a great example, lots of worlds, but in the end the treaty it had with the U.K. and US was simply words on a piece of paper when it’s big neighbour came for what it wanted.

  4. Interesting how the visit and tri service exercise in between visiting Bangladesh and Pakistan has been skipped here. Maybe the only time F35B of UK flew with Flankers in friendly terms. Personally was waiting for an article.

    • Neither Pakistan nor Bangladesh has Flankers(SU-27/30/33/35). Bangladesh has a few Mig 29 Fulcrums & Pakistan a mix of American, Chinese & French jets.

  6. Everyone of those Pakistani sailors waving the flags were obviously volunteered, never has a flag been waved so unenthusiastically. 😉😂

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