The Royal Navy have announced that aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales is due to enter Portsmouth this weekend.

The vessel will pass Round Tower at 2pm on Saturday.

The Royal Navy Facebook page has invited the public to come along and witness the event:

“The second Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier started her journey back in May 2011 when the steel was first cut. Now she has completed the first stage of sea trials and is entering her new home for the first time! Come along and witness this historic moment for the city of Portsmouth and The Royal Navy.”

There is a no fly zone in place around the harbour area for drones and other aircraft fur the afternoon of Saturday the 16th of November.

The vessel recently completed her first stage of sea trials. According to the ACA, during the first fortnight of trials, the trials team accomplished:

  • The first helicopter landing (a Merlin Mk2 of 820 Naval Air Squadron);
  • The first test of engines at full power (reaching a top speed of over 25kts);
  • The first test of long-range radar (courtesy of two RAF Typhoons from Lossiemouth);
  • The first port visit to take on supplies (fuel/stores) in Invergordon
  • Completion of a further 200 compartments on-board, these have been accepted at sea by the MOD Delivery Acceptance Team. There are now just 450 compartments of the 3013 on-board to put the finishing touches to before their final acceptance inspection.
  • Completion of the Forward Aircraft Lift dynamic load trial moving a 105 tonne test load through its full operating cycle.
  • The first test of the ship’s rugby union side (against Ross Sutherland RFC, who play in the sixth tier of Scottish rugby) – a 20-20 draw with man-of-the-match AB Jack Rutherford bagging three tries.
  • The first launch of a weather balloon by the meteorological team; it reached 70,000ft – more than 13 miles up… and 20,000ft higher than the ceiling of the ship’s F-35 Lightning jets;
  • and the first test of the ship’s small-calibre guns.

The vessel will under her formal commissioning before the end of the year.

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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16 COMMENTS

  1. I watched episode 3 of QE last night. Thought it very moving in places. I wonder if documentaries like that make a difference to recruitment. I suppose young people hardly watch mainstream TV anymore.

    • Been thinking that myself… with the rise of Streaming services and ‘targeted ads’ based on the content you stream, it’s any wonder the recruitment ads actually get seen
      M@

    • I’ve been watching them on youtube, the youngsters can watch it there if they know about it. The movie “Midway” which I saw this week may well help explain the benefits and value of carrier and CSG, though obviously in a ww2 context. That said, the cinema was almost empty when I saw it!

        • Yes, it’s worth watching if only for the special effects. It tells the story of Midway well enough to grasp the urgency and desperation of those horrendous days. Sadly, the Henery Fonda version gave you a better indication of what was going on in chronological terms. Knowing the basic history of these battels helped me to understand what was going. However, if you don’t know the string of events it would be wise to read up on them before you watch this new version. It demonstrated how exposed carriers can be without adequate air cover and good intel.

        • Military history buffs may be critical, though I think it was broadly accurate, if a little fleeting. There is a lot of computer animation but then you’d be horrified if they cut over to 1940s black and white wouldn’t you? I enjoyed it – I think it was well done. It re-tells an important naval battle and the biggest carrier-fought battle of all time and introduces it to a younger generation. I preferred it to Dunkirk say – since that appeared to be the polar opposite – using small numbers of physical props – people and planes – which meant the scale of the operation never got across on the screen. I say use those tickets and go!

          • BBC’s ‘World On Fire’ Dunkirk scenes were streets ahead of Knowland’s version. The only gaff was showing a burning AEC `Militant’ truck, which did not enter service until many years after the evacuation? I know a truck is a truck.

      • My cinema was almost empty too! That’s because it was purely an all American story apart from the Japanese content. Generally, such films like this, (Battel Of Britain for one) tend to bore other countries, and are seen to be a bit too jingoistic? Or, it failed to show bloody great sea monsters and flying caped superheroes coming to save the day?

        • I watched in the US where I live. The cinema was still empty. Perhaps they were all at the Ariana Grande concert down the road (where my daughter was, and why I found some time to watch the film whilst I waited for her.)

    • As a naval recruiter I was at a school this week and asked several students if they had been watching the series. With the exception of one, they hadn’t heard of it – scary! Especially as they were interested in joining. This is one if the barriers to recruitment, there are just so many other distractions that these programmes go under their radar.

  2. She’ll be coming in with some RN helicopters on deck.

    Two aircraft carriers with aircraft embarked? Who’d of thought? (couldn’t resist…)

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