Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has welcomed HMS Queen Elizabeth and her Carrier Strike Group home from their global deployment.
3,700 personnel from nine ships, a submarine, five air squadrons and a company of Royal Marines have arrived home in time for Christmas having departed the UK in early May on the historic deployment.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said:
“I wish to express my gratitude to the men and women of the United Kingdom Carrier Strike Group upon the completion of your historic first deployment.
Although you have travelled great distances, we at home have followed your journey at every stage. The past seven months have been a muscular and majestic demonstration of British power and commitment at sea, in the skies and over the land. With our United States and Netherlands allies by your side, you have persuasively demonstrated our shared resolve to protect the rules and freedoms upon which peace and prosperity depend. Through your programme of exercises and engagements you have immeasurably strengthened UK partnerships within NATO and far beyond.
To have done all this against the challenges of Covid is remarkable. This has not always been easy for you or your families, but you have approached the task with the skill and professionalism which are the hallmark of the British armed forces.
The foundations you have laid on this deployment will serve those who follow in your wake for years to come. My admiration and gratitude for your dedication is shared across the government. Each of you has done your duty and done it well. The nation cannot ask for more.
I wish you a happy and restful Christmas with your families. Bravo Zulu.”
BZ
Brilliant deployment. Well done everyone involved. Very proud to be British. If the press were only to report these items properly I dare say more of the population would also feel as I do.
He’s not wrong, despite the detractors.
Name which other nations can form such a group and project it for that amount of time and distance with those assets and train with or visit 40 plus nations.
The capability will grow year on year.
How are things D? A side note to share., I learnt yesterday that the Australian Army is scrapping it’s entire NH 90 helo force and replacing them with Blackhawks- back the future yes? https://australianaviation.com.au/2021/12/adf-to-abandon-mrh-90-taipan-fleet/
In essence the NH 90 is viewed as “unfit for purpose” I do hope the MOD takes heed from the Aussie experience and doe not select NH 90 as the Puma replacement!
P.S The Aussies have had similar experiences with Tiger attack helo – just can’t cope operationally in hot conditions.These are to be replaced by AH 64
Hi K. Blackhawk. I wanted us to order it a decade ago for the AAC. We could have had a good number for 300 million I believe the quote was. Instead we spend 1 billion on Wildcat.
I think the silly inter service nonsense on certain sizes of aircraft didn’t help.
Home build is good but the military does not always get cost effective kit. This needs to change. I’d like to see a balance if quality and quantity, including good OTS purchases where uplifts are needed.
Give the AAC Wildcat to the FAA.
Good Morning Daniele and Klonkie.And meanwhile, here in South Africa, our entire fleet of Saab Gripens are now grounded pending the arrival of spares amongst other issues In the interim we are left with nomajor air defence /attack capability until February at the earliest. The ANC don’t do maintenance or budgeting!!
Sad news Geoff. I spent 4 years in the SAAF in the 80’s . The politics of the time aside , it was a world class force. Maybe not in size and modern aircraft , but certainly in operational capability. Heart breaking to see what it has become.
Hi Klonkie. The SAAF was indeed a fine force in every respect. I remember watching with wife and kids, a Cheetah/Mirage 3 doing an almost vertical speed for altitude climb to near stall just above the packed crowd before breaking off and recovering. I have often thought what would have happened if he had lost it and plummeted back to Earth-no Health and Safety in those days!! Also the lovely sound of the Harvards radial engines!
Those were the days!
Very true D. Blackhawk all the way for the AAC- best value for tax payer money.
P’S. Did you guy get clobbered by the recent storms D?. It looked really bad on BBC World.
Not going to happen. Every decision is polictical. You can get away with buying US gear when there is no domestic alternative or you can fudge it with massive UK reworks (ala original Apache/Chinook) but no way they would go for it with it when there is loss of UK jobs involved.
Reading the story though and it’s more about cost saving than capability. We have done similar with scrapping decent gear to save a buck in the short term. No idea what the background is as just one article.
Well done RN! You have much to be proud of. However, if I may venture a little criticism, a visit to Sydney and Aucklands is overdue!
Seriously doubt the image of a UK carrier pulling into Auckland is politically viable. It will never happen.
I am no fan of Jacinda Ardern but surely even she would not block such a visit. It s unlikely to happen anytime soon as QE has just been in the region and I would think a return trip to Australasia would be some time in the planning.
I just can’t see it happening. Aircraft carriers are the largest status symbols and political messaging devices on earth. QE and PoW now symbolize the “western value baddies” the same way a Nimitz or Ford class does. Welcome back to the club.
It would be a huge middle finger to Xi and the PRC.
I’d settle for a Sydney visit then – its a quick hop across the Tasman . The wife can have a fun filled day shoe shopping, whilst I spend the day on the QE, hosted by the greatest Navy in the world!. Everyone wins, including Visa!
Mud in the eye to Xi, the Stalinist wanna be that he is.
I’d be surprised if Ardern wins the next general election in two yers time. The opposition is now starting to rally well under inspiring new leadership(Chris Luxon), coupled with the current Labour government being exposed for whah they are. A bunch of academics who managed to hide their incompetency behind the COVID.
Morning Klonkie(7.20 am SA) Ya I should imagine NZ would be a better place under a fresh new(non-woke) administration. Hope you are getting some summer in Auckland. Our cousins in Wellington are complaining bitterly-never seems to rise above 22 degrees! Cheers
..actually 20 degrees!!
Cheers Geoff- merry xmas to you and your family
And to you and yours Klonkie
In all, it was a good trip, and proved what it set out to prove. It proved, The QE class can do what it was designed to do (Good) The T23’s make a good and robust escort (Good) The F35’s are an excellent carrier born aircraft (Good) We can operate in a Covid environment (Good) Our allies liked operating with the CSG (Good) The logistic support worked well but more needed (OK but more ships need) The T45’s and excellent escort but needs to get the upgrades done ASAP with only 50% of the escorts available to do there job… Read more »
The T45 situation needs to be fixed ASAP. 2 of the 6 boats should be on operations at all times, even when carriers are in port.
Hello Chris,
With the PIP upgrades not going to plan at the moment and the other upgrades planed for the class it would seem that we will be lucky to see no more than 2 operational T45’s with PIP and upgraded missile compliment before 2030 by that time the oldest of the class will be 22 years old.
May be it is time to cut our losses and go for a new class of vessel and leave the T45’s as they are. (food for thought)
I know Crowsnest has limitations but did it not perform as expected – why?
I do believe that some of the targets were getting lost in the ground clutter but in general there is still a lot of work to bring it up to its designed spec.
Teething troubles or something more?
Hello Graham, well it is over budget and behind schedule and still not performing as per the requirements may be they should rename it it Ajax 2.
A great effort and steep learning curve. Well done to all RN ships companies and allied navies.