HMS Queen Elizabeth and her Carrier Strike Group are currently reinforcing the security of ‘Critical National Infrastructure’ as part of Exercise Neptune Strike.
With @NATO, we're reinforcing Alliance-wide resilience against threats and challenges to our security โ including security of Critical National Infrastructure.
Patrolling maritime CNI as part of #NeptuneStrike with @STRIKFORNATO ๐ธ#UKCSG23 #WeAreNATO pic.twitter.com/0hv8jYFYUg
— UK Carrier Strike Group (@COMUKCSG) November 6, 2023
Exercise Neptune Strike is a multi-domain exercise, organised and conducted by Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO). The overall point is to test and highlight the natural evolution of NATOโs ability to integrate maritime warfare capabilities of a carrier strike group to support Allied defence.
An ๐ฌ๐ง @HMSQNLZ F-35 ๐ฉ๏ธ takes off for one more week of deterrence activities across #NeptuneStrikeโs rough waters in the North Sea. ๐#WeAreNATO #StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/YYYfJM7RLC
— STRIKFORNATO (@STRIKFORNATO) November 6, 2023
The carrier recently left Portsmouth for minor repairs and a logistics stop.
Farewell, Portsmouth! After a brief logistics stop weโre back to sea to resume our NATO tasking with our allies and partners in the North Sea. Weโve achieved a lot so far, but thereโs much more to come!#KingsFlagship #UKCSG23 #StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/HsrHN8nSRL
— HMS Queen Elizabeth (@HMSQNLZ) November 3, 2023
The UK Carrier Strike Group, led by flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth, recently completed the first phase of its autumn deployment. This involved participating in a series of simulated strike missions in the North Sea and Norwegian Sea alongside international naval partners.
“HMS Queen Elizabeth and her embarked jets and helicopters have proven their ability to provide the โpunchโ of the UK Carrier Strike Group during a series of simulated strike missions alongside international partners”, the press release stated.
Joining the aircraft carrier for these combat simulations were several ships from the UK and allied nations. Among these were the Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond, Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker RFA Tideforce, Norwegian ships HNoMS Otto Sverdrup and HNoMS Maud, Dutch ships HNLMS De Zeven Provincien and HNLMS Van Amstel, and the Belgian frigate BNS Louise Marie.
The exercises featured HMS Queen Elizabethโs F-35 Lightning fighter jets from 617 Squadron, Merlin helicopters from 820 Naval Air Squadron, and Wildcat helicopters from 815 and 847 Naval Air Squadrons. Their missions varied, ranging from defending against aerial threats to suppressing enemy air defences and executing strike attacks.
Additionally, HMS Queen Elizabeth and her Carrier Strike Group showcased their medical capabilities, including advanced resuscitation techniques, trauma surgery, and casualty evacuations.
The next phase of the deployment will feature UK forces collaborating with ships and personnel from Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) nations, which include countries such as Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.
Commodore James Blackmore, Commander of the UK Carrier Strike Group, was quoted as saying, “CSG23 is off to a great start. Integrated training within the air and maritime environments, and alongside our European allies, has demonstrated the capability and agility of UK Carrier Strike.โ
“Integrated training within the air and maritime environments, and alongside our European allies, has demonstrated the capability and agility of UK Carrier Strike”, reaffirmed Blackmore.
is it normal for a carrier to come alongside to be replenished, or are we seeing the effects of having Fort Victoria unavailable for a significant period of time?
I understand she needed some repairs to one of the aircraft lifts. That hasn’t been confirmed though.
Yeh, probably a wee sip n dip n go. Keeping us in the wtf mode. ๐๐
If you trawl around the net looking at the names of the RFA ships sold or retire, it’s amazing how many are still playing a trade years af th country decided that they weren’t up to the job anymore. It’s clear that the make up of the fleet support network is done on a ad hoc basis
She was in Portsmouth for repairs to the aircraft lifts.
Fort Vic could be deployed on an unplanned CSG deployment now but is being saved for a deployment next year and then obviously the huge deployment in 2025.
Euphemism for it’s broken down again.
I see Kent has her NSM fit-out which is good to see but are they quad packs or just dual, I couldn’t quite make that detail out?
HMS Kent still has her Harpoon Missiles – still waiting for HMS Somerset to trial the first NSM fit.
Oh interesting, thanks Paul, I thought Harpoon had been withdrawn completely. So, are these tubes vacant, or occupied, if you know what I mean? I suppose I don’t have the clearance to know the truth!
Given the increased tensions ATM I would image that anything that can be certified as safe is fitted.
Indeed….. That’s why the QE are embarking Phantom, Buccaneer, Harrier and Sea Fury from RNAS Yeovilton…… POW will be getting Wasp, Swordfish and Scimitar apparently….. I’ll just get my coat……๏ปฟ๐๏ปฟ
Don’t forget Sea Vixen ๐ฌ๐ง ๐ค
and the stringbags.
Sea vixen was never safe, proper cofins.
Really ,will read up on this suppose for the day it was what it was ๐
It was a bit of a death trap, the FAW 1 was designed in such a way that it was almost impossible for the observer to escape..it was very difficult to land on a carrier..in the end over the decade of its service life 51 aircrew were lost as well as 40% of the airframesโฆ50% of the accidents were fatal..which is a very very high numberโฆ
I hope the FAW 2was better ,did read some years back that there were plans for a Super Sea Vixen but the USA Phantom won the decision all political of course.However to keep the UK Aircraft workers in the deal that’s why RN Phantoms had Rolls Royce Engines.
They did try a bit with the FAW2 at least in theory the observer could ejectโฆ.it was still a bit iffy evacuatingโฆthere was one case of a poor observe getting stuck halfway out the aircraftโฆ as for the phantom in the end the RN did not have a lot of choiceโฆessentially there was no real options from the UK after the total self destruction of the UK airo industry that was the madness behind 1957 defence white paper in which the UK government inexplicably decide that manned aircraft were no longer needed and basically binned every single developed program involving… Read more ยป
Very true think what we may of had TSR2 etc .Sadly UK bad decision making still lives from time to time . ๐
A lot of fatalities came when Seavixens on bomb runs,top of the bomb runs, munitions arming blew the wings off.. rescuing the aircrews (crashes)was a nightmare. specially with the toasting fork ejecseat pin,and aircrew coming to mid rescue..๐คช๐ฉ๐
Scimitar…no,no no.๐ฉ
the early versions of the Buccaneer had a poor record as well.
It did have a few but they were in the early daysโฆa coupe of prototypes had Fatal incidents ( with test pilot crews)..there was one failed launch that was fatal and another fatal crash in the 1980s when an airframe suffered catastrophic failure and broke up mice manoeuvreโฆ.but nothing like the death rate of sea vixenโฆat leat the crew had a chance of ejecting form a buccaneerโฆ.although Iโm pretty sure for all time crashes of modern post war aircraft the harrier may take the. Biscuitโฆwith 237 written off in accidents or lost in combatโฆ.infact a couple crashes near me, I… Read more ยป
Buccaneer had Barostatic (underwater) auto ejection fitted..good job,seeing they were wave skimmers.Yanks hated exercising against them!๐
intersecting points Jonathan, thank you.
Harpoon Out of service date in the RN is due December 2023, so itโs not formally gone out of service yetโฆ.interestingly itโs still only been reported as a due date and not confirmed..as Supportive stated the world is in a very fine balance at presentโฆI suspect harpoon will stay until it can no longer be certified as safe or NSM is fully operationalโฆ.it would not surprise me if we actually saw harpoon running side by side with NSM until all or most of the escorts are refitted for NSMโฆitโs not the time to retire anything without replacing at presentโฆyou can… Read more ยป
Thoughts of Harpoon withdrawal and NSM fit-out make my mind wander and think about Herc withdrawal and whether we should have pen’d a deal for the other A400s that were mooted. That said, we’d be lucky to see anymore A400s in RAF colours for a couple of years, I’m sure. Same thoughts about Typhoon Tranche1 withdrawal and the E-7 order. Anyway, I mustn’t verbalise, I’ll only get people started on here!!! ๏ปฟ๐๏ปฟ
You’d think an obsolete missile which is bought and paid for woukd be better than no missile.
Look at the quantity of obsolete kit being used in Ukraine.
Upping the tempo. Good work to all concerned.
People in that platform (maybe) must be going wtf. ๐
I guess this will be the norm once we retrench to the North Atlantic and North Sea. Pottering around a few miles off the coast protecting wind farms. Which is probably needed as its been found wind farms are interfering with onshore radar to such an extent the MoD has launched a project to seek new technologies to mitigate this. So far 3 years in there’s no solution. Retrenching naval assets as per Labour’s plan is an obvious solution.
The fat controller will be on his way to tell you to be quiet, if you’re not careful ๐
I’ve nothing against renewables. In fact years ago I work on green energy projects in 2 developing countries well before the bandwagongot up a head of steam. I just don’t like the misrepresentation of the arguments where renewables are concerned.
…Retrenching naval assets as per Labourโs plan is an obvious solution…
๐
Fairly obvious really massive investment in renewables under the guise of energy security. But the only way to secure ir is to have your Navy protecting it, especially when those renewables interfer with very shorebase radars meant to detect threats against them.
Still at least we can be net zero hey …..
That should warm the cockels of your heart even if it won’t warm your dear ol’ bones on a mid winters day
A task for frigates or OPVs, rather than a huge great aircraft carrier?
Good point, so get rid of the carriers and use the escorts to protect the windfarms. The first defence review from the next government could be interesting.
I bet ๐ค
Of course I didn’t say that. We got the carriers primarily to deliver air power beyond the range of our land air bases.
No reason to use carriers in our back yard – they are for expeditionary warfare far from our shores. They are for ‘Global Britain duties’.
Protecting undersea pipelines and oil rigs with a Carrier Strike Group – its just wasteful.
Shame about our ships not being renewable
Yeah, you couldn’t make it up we’ll be spending the equivalent of over half of the defence budget on renewable energy and need most of the fleet to secure it. Just build 28 Dreadnoughts and plug them into the grid to give more reliable power generation.
Excellent,now where’s that plug……..๐
Why does a bluewater navy, one of only three in the world, have to retrench to the North Atlantic and North Sea?
Why are you asking me write to John Healy. I’m just restating what he said at Rusi.
The 7/2/23 speech? Healey makes lots of speeches to RUSI. I cannot find him saying we have to retrench to the North Atlantic and the North Sea. I have this: “However, our Indo-Pacific military commitments need realism. British Armed Forces are ill-served by leaders pretending they can do everything, everywhere. Especially as โ over the last 13 years โ UK full-time forces have been cut by over 45,000, one in five of the Navyโs surface ships have been scrapped and over 200 RAF planes have been taken out of service. Just as we would not expect Japan or Australia to… Read more ยป
Well said ,do more with less ๐ ๐ฌ๐ง
Our armed forces have always had to do that, sadly.
This is a point. . All that’s left of the Armed forces after they’ve disappeared up their own assholes.๐๐
Sorry,just back from the memorial ๐.
If you reading the whole speech its very against Global Britain and pro European. I voted remain btw “Just as we would not expect Japan or Australia to deploy much of their military to Europe, nor does it make sense โ especially at this moment โ for UK forces to devote an increasing share of their scarce resources to the Indo-Pacific.โ Referring to Indo Pacific “We can support them with UK technology, capability, diplomacy. And of course, closer defence industrial cooperation” So not militarily. Other extracts Britain’s security strategy must be ‘Nato first’ The first priority for Britain’s armed forces… Read more ยป
I have a fair bit of time for Healey. It is a good initiative to have an bilateral arrangement with Germany – and one with Poland would be good too.
I too think that we should step back from confronting China – let the US be the world’s policeman in that neck of the weoods as the USN is dominanat in the Pacific. But we should show support for Australasia – AUKUS may well be enough.
A matter of curiosity, as the RN at present do not have a fixed wing Fleet Air Arm and therefore must share such activities as required with the RAF.
Do we have a joint chief of staff were such matters are decided as to when and where the RAF will participate in Naval matters, or do the RAF have rule over the Senior Service ??